OFSTATEPLAY The ups and downs of building a mature safety culture SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE WORLD OF WORK ENHANCE/INFLUENCE/COLLABORATE
100%ONLINE 5*REVIEWS OUTSTANDING FLEXIBLE AWARDWINNING PLATFORM TRUSTEDTESTEDTRIED "Brilliant course, well laid out, clear content and I was able to work this around a very busy work schedule and home life I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to achieve a high standard in Health and Safety " "The course takes you from first principles right the way through to practical application User interface is easy to use and intuitive with lots of embedded videos, interactive quizzes and quick links to further information Access is quick and easy " "INTERACTIVE" "EASYTOUSE" "BRILLIANT COURSE""A very well designed on line course with great communication by e mail and telephone As good as it gets." "An enjoyable and informative course with high quality learning material " "I would recommend this course for the Senior Management Team and Health and Safety Specialists with the responsibility of advising the organisation on H&S matters There are structured materials and case studies you can learn from and also improve internal Behavioural Change programs" "BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE" "HIGH QUALITY" "AS GOOD ASITGETS" MAKINGWORKPLACESSAFERSINCE1999 IOSHONLINETRAININGEXPERTS
As I approach the final two months of my year as IOSH president, I am reflecting on the transformations within our organisation, as well as those happening in the profession as a whole and across the wider world of work.
AMID GLOBALESCALATINGCRISES,IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER
3IOSH MAGAZINE WELCOME Published by Redactive Publishing Ltd 9 Dallington Street, London, EC1V 0LN EDITOR Emma Godfrey emma.godfrey@ioshmagazine.com DEPUTY EDITOR Sally Hales CONTENT SUB-EDITOR James Hundleby DIGITAL EDITOR Kellie Mundell kellie.mundell@ioshmagazine.com DESIGNER Craig Bowyer PICTURERESEARCHER Claire Echavarry ADVERTISING Display sales +44 (0) 20 7880 7613 ioshdisplay@redactive.co.uk Recruitment sales +44 (0) 20 7880 7662 ioshjobs@redactive.co.uk PRODUCTION Rachel Young +44 (0) 20 7880 6209 rachel.young@redactive.co.uk PUBLISHINGDIRECTOR Aaron Nicholls Redactive aims to provide authoritative and accurate information at all times. Its publications are, however, for guidance only and are not an official information source. The inclusion of advertisements and inserts within IOSH magazine and ioshmagazine.com does not constitute an endorsement of the organisation or its products/services by IOSH or Redactive. All advertisements must adhere to the British Code of Advertising Practice. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher and editor. For changes to your address, please contact IOSH membership team on membership@iosh.com or 0116 257 3198. ISSN 2396-7447 © IOSH 2022 OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is the world’s leading professional body for people responsible for safety and health in the workplace. IOSH magazine is printed by ISO 14001 certified printers. Printed by Warners Midlands plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, PE10 9PH
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The International Labour Organization has now formally adopted the fundamental principle that everyone has the right to a safe and healthy work environment. This is a significant development – for our profession, it means that governments and organisations around the world will be looking to review their approaches to what we as OSH professionals all care about. This will take time, but we will see the effects within the world’s workplaces. It really is a game-changer. This will increase the demands on our profession – as will the increasingly strong link between OSH and the sustainability agenda, as demonstrated by our Catch the Wave initiative. I’ve been delighted to speak on many occasions about this crucial area, especially at in-person events. This brings me to another highlight – being able to meet up again in person and to travel. While it has been great to use technology, there really is no substitute for getting out and about. I have been delighted to represent IOSH at events once more and to meet many of our members and global stakeholders – something I hope to continue doing in my year as immediate past president in So,2023.ifyou see me at an event in the coming months, please do say hello. Our members are the soul of IOSH and our profession. You continue to be at the heart of what the Institution does. We have more exciting months of events and developments ahead, including the further development of our next strategy, which is due for launch in early 2023. In the meantime, stay connected to IOSH, myself and our network of volunteers for all the latest news and events.
Louise Hosking PRESIDENT, IOSH
A hen I wrote for this page in the first IOSH magazine of the year, I said we would have an exciting 12 months ahead of us. Even though we are by no means at the end of 2022, this prediction has already come to pass. From ground-breaking decisions and the increasing influence of our profession on the global sustainability agenda, to the development of IOSH’s next strategy and travelling to in-person events once more, 2022 has not disappointed. Amid escalating global crises, which are affecting our profession, it is increasingly important for us to support one another as a network of professionals. This is so that we, in turn, can support others via our varied roles, wherever we may be.
4 Contents SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE WORLD OF WORK SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM UPDATE 7 NEWS 10 IOSH NEWS 12 NEWS ANALYSIS How can employers prevent aggression and assaults in the workplace? 16 DID YOU KNOW...? A closer look at cancer and its global incidence 18 LEGAL 20 PROSECUTIONS 48 What makes buildings healthy, what is the evidence base, and what role can OSH play? FOUNDATIONSHEALTHY
COVER FEATURE Safety culture Constructing an effective safety culture and how the rules might change in the future 22 5 CONTENTS COLLABORATE 31SEDENTARISMSittingtargets The risks to health and to business from workers not moving from their desks 36 RISK ProactivePREVENTIONvsreactive Why leading by example is best for safety performance 41 HotREFLECTIONStopics IOSH members share their thoughts on talking points 45 TheOPINIONwider view Online highlights, including book recommendations INFLUENCE 54 BeyondCOMPLIANCEbox-ticking Scott Crichton explores why achieving absolute compliance isn’t the same as being safe 70 FUTURE LEADER Badar Kareem A keen OSH learner on his role in the aviation industry in Pakistan 72 BACK TO BASICS Safety on the move Workplace transport incidents and your role in ensuring risks are well managed 74 TALKING SHOP Fighting fatigue Our experts share their thoughts on reducing tiredness and depression at work IOSH MAGAZINE 58 ENHANCE 64 VIRTUAL ETHICS Remote rights and wrongs Tackling the ethical dilemmas of online working 68 MEMBER Objective:INTERVIEWzeroharm Matt Hall on how reporting has helped reduce accidents at Rolls-Royce Nuclear 58 FitQUALIFICATIONSforthefuture IOSH’s new awarding capabilities will enhance standards and future-proof the industry 70 GEORGEPATRICKILLUSTRATION:COVER
Managing Sustainably Invest in them and they’ll invest in you A positive and sustainable culture puts people at its heart and ensures that health, happiness and wellbeing are the drivers for positive business success. This brand new course is suitable for all managers who want to understand why social capital is the focus for so many of today’s most successful businesses and how they can tap into it to transform their organisation. Discover: ••••• To find out more about this course or to book your place visit iosh.com/managingsustainably
2 Number
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According to the GB Health and Safety Executive’s provisional figures for 2021-22, the number of workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain has fallen to 123, a decrease of 22 on the previous year, but the fatal injury rate ‘remains broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels’.
inmarkeddeathsworkplaceoffallsbutnoimprovementfatalinjuryrate
The UK government has rejected its Work and 40buildingsasbestostoshouldthatrecommendationCommittee’sPensionskeypolicy-makerscommitremovingallfrompublicwithinyears. ioshmagazine.com/asbestos-buildings
1 Rise in COVID infections potentially linked to number of fit notes issued
3 UK commitrefusesgovernmentto to asbestos40-yeardeadline
7IOSH MAGAZINE Update WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS ISSUE IN SECTIONTHIS Worker unfairly dismissed after ‘cursory’ risk assessment banned crucifix P9 | Find out how to catch up on IOSH’s latest webinars P10 | How employers can tackle drugs and alcohol in the workplace P12 | The facts and figures from WHO’s latest cancer report P16 | Haulage firm liable for explosion injury P18 | Carlsberg fined £3m for gas leak that killed worker P20 ISTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY:
The number of fit notes issued by GPs in England last year was the highest on record and may have been driven by a rise in COVID-19 infections, a specialist employment law firm has suggested.
MC221 Registered Charity No. 1097271 and OSHCR No. SC037998. Find out more: T. +44 (0)20 3510 3510 www.britsafe.org Thousands of organisations have trusted us over the years to help them seize opportunities through challenging times.
7 HSE PUBLISHES SAFETYCONSTRUCTIONREVISEDFIREGUIDANCE
RISE BY MORE THAN 1000%
4 UNFAIRLY DISMISSED AFTER ‘CURSORY’ RISK ASSESSMENT BANNED CRUCIFIX NECKLACE
The guidance, aimed at all those working on construction projects who procure, design, develop and manage construction sites, including clients and designers, is intended to enable construction professionals to achieve good fire safety management and compliance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. It also suggests how to prevent site fires from starting and ensuring people’s safety if they do.
A factory worker who was sacked after refusing to remove his crucifix necklace has won his unfair dismissal case on appeal after a judge agreed that the employer’s risk assessment had been ‘cursory’.
9IOSH MAGAZINE NEWS
The number of job roles advertised by Disability Confident employers has increased by 1100% in the past five years, according to analysis carried out for job website Indeed. ioshmagazine.com/disability-confident
An employment tribunal has ruled that an advanced train maintainer working for a division of London Underground was subject to detrimental treatment after being suspended for raising continued health and safety concerns relating to protected disclosures. The case was brought by Kyle Dempsey, who was working with its TransPlant division when he issued proceedings in 2019. ioshmagazine.com/underground-tribunal
8 TUBE SAFETY REP SUFFERED DETRIMENTAL TREATMENT, SAYS TRIBUNAL
Several years in the making, the latest edition contains guidance explaining the need to eliminate and/or mitigate fire risks during the design phase.
ioshmagazine.com/skanska-lorry
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5 SKANSKA BANS SWING-UP LORRY LOADERS AFTER SITE DEATH Construction giant Skanska has banned lorry loaders fitted with certain types of stabiliser legs from its UK sites. The move, which took effect on 1 August, came after a worker died in an accident involving the same type of stabiliser on a Skanska site in Shirehampton, Bristol, England, last September.
The GB Health and Safety Executive has recently published a revised version of its fire safety in construction (HSG168) document.
6 JOB ADS FOR DISABLED WORKERS
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WORKER
OSH is continuing to influence and engage at events around the world.
From Catch the Wave and COVID-19 to research and branch and group sessions, IOSH runs webinars on a regularThesebasis.online events offer members a chance to keep their knowledge up to date no matter where in the world they are However,based.IOSH recognises that members may have to miss webinars for many different reasons, including professional and personal commitments.Withthisin mind, the Institution has an area of its website dedicated to webinar recordings, so members can catch up anytime, anywhere.
Catch up with our webinars
S EPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2022 IOS HMA GAZ INE .CO M
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UPDATE EVENTS
For information,more visit iosh.com/webinars
WEBINARS
President-elect Lawrence Webb will be presenting IOSH’s Catch the Wave initiative on social sustainability at the Safety, Health and Wellbeing Live event in Farnborough in the south of England on 28 September. A day later, on 29 September, the president, Louise Hosking, will be the first speaker at the two-day HSE360 Summit in Brussels, again focusing on the Catch the Wave initiative.
I
On 11 October, IOSH policy development manager Dr Iván Williams Jiménez will be at the Lone Worker Safety Live event where he will speak about the impact of remote and home-working on staff wellbeing. This event, bringing together experts in the field of safety, security and wellbeing to share their knowledge and experience of managing the risks associated with lone and remote working, is being held at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. IOSH will also present Engaging and globallyinfluencing
Catch the Wave at the Safety and Prevention Event in Ljubljana, Slovenia, held on 13 and 14 October and run by the Association of Safety Engineers Ljubljana and the Slovenian Fire Protection Association. And the month’s events are rounded off by the World Social Security Forum in Marrakesh, Morocco, held from 24 to 28 October. Further details of IOSH’s involvement in this event were not formalised at the time of publication. Read more about IOSH’s work at iosh.com/news
11IOSH MAGAZINE IOSH NEWS
MENTORING
IOSH has launched a new e-book on social sustainability, in support of its Catch the WaveAlongsideinitiative.the e-book, the Institution has also unveiled an associated bite-sized programme of online learning. These additional resources will help people build their understanding of social sustainability, demonstrate the importance of human capital and show exactly how this can help business leaders achieve stronger performance and growth.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY IOSH e-bookCatchlaunchestheWave
SHUTTERSTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY: Shout out for mentors HAVE YOUR ELECTIONSCOUNCILSAY
WHAT? The next Member – Connect with Council session is being held on 23 ThisSeptember.isthelatest in a number of such sessions, with the aim of members finding out more about the representative body and how they can support them with updates and putting forward their views. WHEN? As well as the 23 September session, another is planned for 21 October. HOW? The sessions are virtual and more information can be found on the webinars and events section of the IOSH website. Check out your Connect e-newsletter for information.
To book, call +44 (0)116 257 3239 or email cpd.enquiries@iosh.com
VIRTUAL YOURSTUCKWORKSHOPSWITHCPD?
WHAT? It’s that time of year again when members get to elect a new cohort for IOSH’s Council. WHEN? Candidates are set to take part in the hustings events in early September and members should have received information in their inboxes about this. Following the hustings, voting begins later this month, on 21 September. Members will have until 17 October to cast their votes, with results being announced a few days later.
IOSH’s successful mentoring programme is on the lookout for more volunteers who could support another member in reaching their goals. The programme helps members otherthemastheoriescuriousTheyofpeoplewatchsatisfyingachievingsupportedmembercoachingcommunicationcanmentorsprogrammeandinhaveprofessionalsfellowMentorsprofessionals.withrelationshipsbuildotherOSHsupportOSHwhoidentifiedgapstheirknowledgeexperience.Thealsobenefitsthemselvesastheyimprovetheirleadership,andskills.JohnCliffisanIOSHturnedmentorwhoafellowmemberinCharteredstatus.Hesaid:‘It’sextremelytohelpsomeoneandthemflourish.Thesearethenextgenerationprofessionalpractitioners.arelearning,theyareandfullofideas,andconcepts.‘It’satwo-waystreet,becauseamentorIalsolearnfromandpassthisontomentees.’
This latest phase of Catch the Wave, which launched in November 2021, explores what contributions the OSH professional can make to support businesses to be socially sustainable. More information can be found at iosh.com/catchthewave
For more information, visit iosh.com/mentoring
Free sessions to support membersIOSHwith their CPD are continuing, with more planned forTheSeptember.virtualworkshops include demonstrations on how to add activities to CPD records and offer an opportunity for members to ask questions of IOSH’s specialist team. They are being held between 11am and 12pm on 13 and 22 September, and between 2pm and 3pm on 29 September (all British Summer Time). The workshops are open to all members, but numbers are limited to a maximum of 25 per session.
WHY? Council is the body that represents the interests of IOSH members. More information is available about the body at iosh.com/council COUNCIL Express yourself at Member – Connect Council sessions
Squaring upto violenceworkplace
As the UK government ratifies the ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention, how should businesses prevent aggression and assaults in the workplace?
12 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM UPDATE
D
uring the first lockdown in April 2020, railway worker Belly Mujinga and her colleague were reportedly shouted at, coughed and spat on by a customer at London’s Victoria station (Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), 2022). Belly died of COVID-19 days later. The inquest into her death began in June 2022 and is ongoing.
MINS20 WORDS ANNA SCOTT
Employees in public-facing sectors report experiencing greater levels of verbal, physical and online abuse in recent years. Community pharmacists in Scotland say they face increasing aggression from customers (BBC, 2022). Social workers describe harassment and abuse as ‘rife’ (Unison, 2022). Teachers say increasing use of social media applications, including online learning tools, has resulted in more harassment from parents (NASUWT, 2022). Large proportions of gig workers are facing violence at work – 90% say they have been harassed (Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), 2021).
Systemic change Now the UK government has become the 11th country to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention. In addressing the global framework outlined by the treaty, it plans to introduce a new duty for employers requiring them to create explicit protections for employees from harassment by third parties (Department for Work and Pensions, 2022).
The Home Affairs Committee held an inquiry into violence and abuse towards retail workers, which highlighted that employers have a duty of care to their workforce (House of Commons, 2022). It also outlined the role employers should play in ensuring that workers are confident enough to report incidents and are provided with appropriate support to deal with difficult situations when they arise. Scotland has passed legislation that makes it an offence to assault, threaten or abuse retail workers (Scottish Parliament, 2021).
Violent times Generally speaking, any sector that brings workers into contact with the public on a regular basis is likely to be affected, including education, public transport and hospitality. But it is not a new issue.
Doug Russell CMIOSH, health and safety officer at retail union Usdaw, points out that work to tackle workplace violence and harassment has gone on in many sectors for many years.
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Assaults on rail staff were also an issue before COVID-19, with 4555 incidents recorded in 2019-20, according to Rob Jenks, policy adviser at TSSA, the trade union for transport and travel. Although the number of incidents reduced the following year, the number of passengers was substantially lower. ‘If anything, as a proportion of the reduced numbers of people travelling, [violence and harassment] got worse [during the lockdown]. Since the pandemic, the number of assaults has returned to prepandemic levels, causing concern about an increase in the normalised rate,’ he says. Workers in the gig economy, particularly couriers, have reported experiencing harassment and violence in recent years. Two teenagers were convicted of manslaughter this year after luring taxi driver Gabriel Bringye using the Bolt
The ILO’s international labour standard – the first to address violence and harassment at work – ‘provides the first internationally agreed definition of violence and harassment in the world of work, understood as a “range of unacceptable behaviours and practices” that “aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm”,’ according to Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH head of health and safety. This definition aims to protect everyone in the world of work, including interns or apprentices, and those who exercise the duties of an employer. It covers the public and private sectors, formal and informal economies, and rural as well as urban areas. It is also designed to identify sectors, occupations and work arrangements in which people may be more exposed to violence and harassment – such as of inofleastexperiencedtrustsacrossparamedics220NHSinEnglandatoneincidentphysicalviolence2020-21 NHS, 2021 social work staff in the UK theverbalexperiencedabusesincestartof2022 workers in the courier sector onceassaultexperienceeconomyphysicalatleastaweek
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‘Unfortunately, retail crime has been climbing for many years,’ says Emma Revell, the British Retail Consortium’s crime spokesperson. ‘Before the pandemic, there were 455 incidents of violence and abuse towards people working in retail every single day, which was a 7% increase on the year before.’
Unison, 2022 245 assaults DecemberAprilcapital,acrosstubeLondonTransportoneachexperiencedweremonthaveragebyforstaffatstationsthefrom2020to2021 Talora, 2022 31.4 % 66% of
‘Unfortunately, the progress that was developing in the early 2000s as a result of improved reporting and conflict management training has been eroded by the general increase in aggression that has occurred in recent years, as well as the cuts in public services and benefits,’ he says.
IWGB, 2021 ALAMYPHOTOGRAPHY:
13IOSH MAGAZINE NEWS ANALYSIS nightclub or gig sectors – and take specific measures to protect them.
‘If the person providing support is tired, upset or frustrated themselves they can
WORK CULTURE
Aggression and harassment among employees is a problem, although whether the pandemic has exacerbated this is not clear.
OSH professionals should be at the forefront of fostering inclusive working cultures that do not tolerate any type of inappropriate behaviour, Rachel Suff says. ‘Employers should proactively identify and manage conflict. They should train managers so they have the skills and confidence to intervene at an early stage and nip disagreements in the bud before they escalate.’
Workplace violence and aggression are extremely complex problems without simple solutions, according to Dr Noreen Tehrani, occupational health, counselling and trauma psychologist and past chair of the British Psychological Society’s crisis, disaster and trauma psychology section.
Positive action Noreen believes the pandemic has created changes in the way people work and behave, particularly because direct interpersonal reaction has been limited.
‘Societal changes such as the #MeToo movement and more media attention on issues such as sexual harassment have hopefully contributed to more understanding and less tolerance of unfair treatment at work,’ she says.
‘Some of the social niceties of working in a shared environment have been lost and need to be re-established,’ she adds. ‘It is essential to move away from an approach that is focused on identifying bad behaviours to one that maximises respect
Magnified aggression
Clarity on the standards of behaviour expected is also crucial. ‘They must apply to everyone – including the most senior managers, who are not immune to bad behaviour,’ says Noreen Tehrani. ‘Organisations should also have processes for identifying and offering remedial training and support for those unaware of their behaviour’s impact on others, and sanctions on those who choose to behave badly for their own ends.’ app to rob him. ‘Some industries or roles are now at increased risk of violence and aggression than before the pandemic, such as those working in the gig economy – specifically those delivering food or goods – as the use of these services rose during the pandemic and lockdowns,’ says Ruth. Aggressive digital communications are also a growing problem in some sectors, particularly education, healthcare and social care. One piece of research found that 78% of social work staff surveyed are concerned with being publicly identified and/or blamed in the media or on social media in connection with cases (Unison, 2022).
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People dealing with personal factors such as sick family members, underlying mental health conditions, personality factors or paranoia may be more likely to become angry, frustrated and unable to deal with their emotions. Situational factors include working in a noisy environment or dealing with a complaint without recognising the emotional state of the customer.
‘Aggression, both physical and verbal, and actual violence is due to a large range of factors,’ she says. ‘The impact of COVID-19 has been to magnify those factors, but in itself is not the cause of aggression and violence. There is a need to look at the personal and situational factors that make violence more likely to occur.’
14 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM UPDATE become defensive and thethanneedwithresponses.isproblemsduepeoplebecultureunacceptableandnot.acceptablewhatculturalsaysorarewhenconfrontationaltheyfeeltheybeingmistreateddisregarded,’Noreen.‘Therearesomedifferencesin[behaviour]isandwhatisHowever,violenceaggressionareinanyandcannottolerated.SomeareviolenttomentalhealthwherethereaninabilitytocontrolPeopletheseconditionstreatmentratherpunishment.’Anotherfactorisincreaseinreporting violence and aggression, and a greater understanding of them – both by employees and customers. Recent research (CIPD, 2020) shows employees are more confident in reporting inappropriate behaviour at work, according to Rachel Suff, the CIPD’s senior policy adviser, employment relations.
‘It can be very hard to control, especially if the organisation’s industry is in social media or employs workers to work on social media platforms for their business,’ Ruth adds.
One survey shows 26% of 2211 employees questioned and 20% of 1016 employers surveyed say conflict is ‘prominent’ in their workplace (CIPD, 2020). Of those employees who were aware of serious conflict, 28% perceived verbal abuse or insults, 5% perceived physical threats and 2% perceived physical assaults taking place (CIPD, 2020).
Creating effective communication is also a key factor in preventing or reducing the risks of workplace violence and aggression. ‘Think about providing an open line of communication between management and other teams such as human resources, health and safety departments and key members of the organisation to help create a work environment where workers can raise grievances in confidence and are heard and properly responded to,’ Ruth says.
consulting with workers and safety reps to understand the risks, a simple and clear reporting system, and appropriate training for managers and workers to make sure they understand the procedures in wider conflict management. ‘Worker engagement is central to the process, to ensure incidents are reported and the effectiveness of risk assessments and control measures,’ saysOSHDoug.professionals should strive to develop zero-tolerance cultures and develop policies and procedures that are communicated across their organisation and to external parties. ‘Senior leaders need to take a visible lead on the issue and set the tone for fostering a working environment where people feel empowered to speak up,’ Rachel adds.
To view the article’s references, go to workplace-violenceioshmagazine.com/
Different sectors are taking different approaches to tackling workplace violence and harassment. NHS organisations have been ‘working even harder during the pandemic to provide additional support, particularly where instances of violence have increased’, according to Caroline Waterfield, director of development and employment at NHS Employers.
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The railways sector has included workforce assaults and trauma in its 12 priority risk areas as part of its Leading health and safety on Britain’s railway strategy, which includes establishing a joint industry risk group, agreeing a definition of violence and trialling bodyworn cameras. ‘In our view,’ says Rob, ‘OSH professionals should be among those taking a leadership role in tackling violence and aggression in a work situation.’
15IOSH MAGAZINE NEWS ANALYSIS and good behaviours and encourages people to work in ways that maximise social inclusion, cooperation and support.’
The picture of workplace violence and harassment across different employment sectors – and the impact of the pandemic – is gradually becoming clearer. Changes in law are intended to protect workers but need to be backed up by actions by employers. OSH professionals will continue to play a vital role.
‘Huge sums’ are spent on crime prevention in retail – such as security personnel, body-worn cameras and CCTV – and retailers provide their staff with de-escalation training so they know best how to handle confrontation, Emma says. ‘Retailers are open to exploring other measures to prevent retail crime, and will increasingly be looking into technological solutions they can adopt.’
The use of body-worn cameras is becoming more widespread
The OSH role Organisations need to move towards a proactive system to help prevent violence before it occurs. This could include
‘The Social Partnership Forum, which brings together employers and staff organisations, has been working jointly with NHS England to develop a new set of violence standards to help NHS organisations address this issue,’ she says, adding that NHS Employers will continue to work closely with employers to support implementation of the NHS People Plan, which focuses on reducing violence against staff. ‘It is vital that these issues are not ignored, and that staff feel able to work safely and speak up if they face violence or abuse,’ Caroline adds.
She concludes that there is no single way to control violence and aggression in the workplace: ‘A good understanding of the nature of an organisation and how it works are necessary in creating an effective method of eliminating, minimising, or controlling the risks.’
UPDATE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGA ZI NE.COM The full report can be read at WHO-biennial-reportbit.ly/ 16 A global view of The WHO International Agency for Researchon Cancer ’s recent Biennial report 2020-2021 reveals some interesting data on global incidence of the disease... 19.3 million Estimated new cases of cancer globally in 2020 Estimated global deaths from cancer in 2020 10 million andBreastlung For the first time, female breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer However,worldwide.lungcancer is still the most canceroccupation-relatedcommontype
DID YOU KNOW..? IOSH MAGAZINE SCREENINGISKEY Oral cancer modelling indicates that screening only 50% of ever-users of tobacco and/or alcohol would lead to a 19.7% reduction in mortality DOUBLE TROUBLE Four well-known lung carcinogens also increase the risk of laryngeal cancer: AsbestosRespirablecrystallinesilicaChromiumVI Nickel A STUDY LOOKING AT OVARIAN CANCER FOUND ABOUT 1 IN 7 OF THOSE WITH THE DISEASE HAD BEEN EXPOSED TO BYEXPOSEDPOSSIBLYANDOCCUPATIONALLY,ASBESTOS16.5%HADBEENINDIRECTLYACLOSERELATIVE Infection 1 2 3 4
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The number of new cases of lung cancer that tobacco control policies could prevent in Europe by 2037 750,000 cancer cases globally in which alcohol consumption is estimated to play a role – 4% of all new cases
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It is estimated that in 2018, 2.2 million cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide that could be attributable to infections as:
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Hamilton made the same arguments, while also claiming that he was not Chadwick’s employer and that the claimant was self-employed or employed by another party, so he had not breached any duty owed.
On appeal, the High Court found that Ovenden had a contract with the airfield to dismantle the aircraft and a number of obligations relating to risk assessments, site safety and obtaining adequate insurance. This contract was in place until at least the date of the accident. Hamilton was selfemployed and subcontracted by Ovenden to dismantle the aircraft. Under the terms of the subcontract, Ovenden was obliged to make a safety inspection to ensure the aircraft was safe before dismantlement work started and retained a significant amount of control over the aircraft.
The judge then considered whether Chadwick was in fact an employee of Hamilton. Although there was no written contract with Chadwick either of employment or as a contractor, the judge found cumulative and overwhelming evidence that he was indeed an employee on a contract for the duration of the dismantlement. Regarding the question of a duty of care owed to Chadwick, the judge ruled that Ovenden was in control of the work premises and so owed a duty of care, as did Hamilton as his employer. Both defendants claimed the presence of the oxygen cylinder was not reasonably foreseeable. However, both agreed it was foreseeable that the aircraft would contain dangerous substances, and a risk assessment by Ovenden had specifically identified ‘items with a potential to explode’, stating that these would be removed. The judge ruled it was entirely foreseeable that the aircraft, a former airliner, might contain oxygen cylinders. The judge ruled in favour of Chadwick. He had not acted negligently and did not contribute to his injuries, meaning there was no break in the chain of causation. Both defendants were found to have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.
A judge disagrees with company’s argument that it did not have control of the workplace, so no duty was owed.
Haulage firm liable after cylinderinjuredengineerinoxygenexplosion
SHUTTERSTOCK/ALAMYPHOTOGRAPHY: CHADWICK VR H HAMILTONLTD,OVENDENRIAN[2022] 18 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM UPDATE CASE LAW
The engineer had not todidnegligentlyactedandnotcontributehisowninjuries
R H Ovenden Ltd, a haulage and plant hire firm in Kent, England, and Mr Rian Hamilton, a subcontractor, were found to be negligent after an aircraft engineer sustained life-changing injuries in an explosion. On 3 February 2015, the engineer, Paul Chadwick was working at Manston Airfield in Kent, dismantling a retired DC8 aircraft. While using an angle grinder to cut through a metal sheet, he also cut through an oxygen cylinder behind it, causing an explosion. He was airlifted to hospital and spent two weeks in intensive care. He underwent multiple major operations and now has permanent damage to his eyes. He has been unable to work since the accident.
Chadwick brought a claim for damages against Ovenden, arguing the company owed him a duty of care as it was in control of the workplace and should have taken reasonable measures to ensure its safety, but had failed to do so. He also brought a claim against Rian Hamilton, his employer, on the sameBothgrounds.defendants denied liability. Ovenden argued it did not have control of the workplace, so no duty was owed, and even if it did, Chadwick’s actions were reckless and broke any chain of causation. Furthermore, it argued it would only have to take steps in relation to foreseeable risks, and the presence of the oxygen cylinder was not foreseeable.
CONSTRUCTION
CHEMICALS CLP Annex 8 retained in error
RegulationsAmendmentBuildingcedr.ec/8fa
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The HSE is seeking views on building safety following the Grenfell Tower fire. Building control professionals and private sector building control organisations must register with the BSR from October 2023, and the BSR will expect them to have reached specific competence levels to do so. This consultation seeks views on what the competences should be and how applicants can demonstrate skills, knowledge and experience.
This sponsored content has been provided by Cedrec Information Systems, available at cedrec.com 19IOSH MAGAZINE LEGAL
• Risk prevention and protective measures in occupied, high-rise residential buildings – on the measures that must be implemented to ensure fire safety
The HSE has announced that Annex 8 to the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures Regulation 1272/2008 was inadvertently retained in Great Britain after Brexit. Annex 8 sets out the harmonised information relating to emergency health response and preventative measures. The government is considering a public consultation on the matter. cedr.ec/8f9
The Building Safety Act 2022 passed into law in England in May. It is designed to improve the safety of buildings and minimum standards in response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. It was created as a result of Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety. The Act requires more accountability and responsibility for fire and structural safety issues in the lifecycle of certain buildings by: Establishing the GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) • Altering to high-rise buildingsresidential
•
• Building information – on what information responsible persons may need to hold for high-rise residential buildings. cedr.ec/8fe; cedr.ec/8ff; cedr.ec/8fg; cedr.ec/8fh; safetyonHSEcedr.ec/8ficonsultsbuildingreforms
• Safety case report – on the requirement to create a safety case report by a principal accountable person for highrise buildings • Safety management systems: what you need to know – on what responsible persons must know to help them manage high-rise building safety risks through a safety management system
unitcontributeproductsproductsto•ombudsman•riskprovisions•buildingregulationsbuildingandcontrolSettingoutvariousforhigher-buildingsEstablishinganewhomesschemeSettingoutprovisionsasliabilityforconstructionandcladdingthatresultin,orto,aresidentialbecominguninhabitable. Guidancecedr.ec/8fbrelating
• Identifying building safety risks in occupied high-rise residential buildings – on how the responsible persons must consider risk assessment within the context of the Act
The Building
anandusefulresidentstopersonsnewTowerPhaserecommendationsimplementinginthe1reportoftheGrenfellInquiry.Theyimposedutiesonresponsibleofsuchbuildingsimprovethesafetyofwhileprovidinginformationtofirerescueservicestosupportemergencyresponse. cedr.ec/8fc NEW LEGISLATION, GUIDANCE AND CONSULTATION
The HSE has published a series of guidance documents following the Building Safety Act 2022. The documents are:
Building Safety Act becomes law
FIRE Fire RegulationsSafety The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will take effect in January 2023 and aim to improve fire safety in high-rise and other multi-occupied residential buildings by
The investigations found that VolkerRail had not used temporary works to shore up the excavation, despite evidence of unstable ground conditions; it had not adequately briefed its construction team on how to complete tasks and was not following its own methods; and poor management meant failings were not corrected and complaints were not fully acted upon.
A contractor died and another was seriously injured following an ammonia gas leak at a brewery in Northhampton, England. What happened? In November 2016, Carlsberg, as part of the brewer’s refrigeration system upgrade, appointed Crowley Carbon as principal designer and contractor. Subcontractors were then appointed to refurbish. On 9 November 2016, during the removal of the refrigeration system’s old compressor, an uncontrolled release of ammonia gas killed David Chandler and seriously injured David Beak. Another 20 people required medical assistance, including members of the emergency rescue team.
fined £3m
‘Excavations are a well-known area of risk and something that all IOSH members should be aware of,’ said Simon Barber, HM inspector of railways at the Office of Road and Rail.
The prosecution At Birmingham Crown Court, Carlsberg pleaded guilty to charges under sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. The firm was fined £3m, with costs of £90,000. The case against Crowley Carbon did not reach court as the firm was put into compulsory liquidation and has since been dissolved.
The investigation The reasons for the incident essentially amounted to inadequate isolation. The compressor should have been isolated before being disconnected, ensuring those carrying out the work on the compressor were not exposed to ammonia. In this case, both Carlsberg and Crowley Carbon had a duty to ensure the correct isolation was in place before work was undertaken. The investigation concluded that the compressor’s isolation consisted of a single-valve non-proved system – the lowest standard. It should have had positive isolation, the highest standard.
RAILWAYEXCAVATIONS
Eight years later, the injured worker is still in pain and cannot work full-time.
Carlsberg for ammonia gas leak that killed worker
HSEROADANDRAILOFOFFICE/SHUTTERSTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY:
Read members’ thoughts on this story on page 41. IOSH magazine spoke to the HSE principal inspector on this case. See ioshmagazine.com/carlsberg
The collapse happened on 6 July 2014, when a team of railway workers were installing an undertrack crossing near Stafford railway station in England. The investigation found there were weaknesses in the excavation method, and the collapse resulted from a lack of support and insufficient groundwater management. Workers had already raised concerns about the method of work before the trench collapsed.
WORKERCOLLAPSETRENCHLEFTINCOMA
Rail infrastructure contractor VolkerRail must pay £550,000 after a trench collapsed on a railway worker, causing life-changing injuries and requiring him to be placed in a medically induced coma.
Read members’ thoughts on this story on page 41. Read more at com/volkerrail-excavationsioshmagazine.
UPDATE 20 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
CHEMICALS
WHY? ‘The risks associated with installing roof trusses are well known in the construction industry, and yet this firm failed to follow established requirements to ensure the work was done safely,’ said an OSHA spokesperson. ‘Installing trusses safely requires that employers conduct a hazard assessment and address the hazards to properly protect workers.’ The general contractor on site, Fulcrum Construction Group LLC, of Alabama, US, was cited for a serious violation.
IOSH MAGAZINE PROSECUTIONS 21
The company had also failed to keep a record of when staff had entered the tank and cleaned it, so it was difficult to determine how often the practice took place.
Both men died at the scene. An investigation found that the Newark-based firm, Greenfeeds, had no procedures in place to ensure the cleaning process was undertaken safely, nor were yard staff warned about the risks. The working method of entering a tank to clean it had not been properly risk-assessed, and there was no method statement for entering the tanker or for rescuing anyone in the event of an incident.
WHO? Daniel Anderson, an agricultural fencing sole trader, employed a 17-year-old worker who was chiselling when a piece of metal flew into his right eye. Despite multiple surgeries, the teenager is now blind in one eye. Anderson failed to notify WorkSafe NZ of the injury; the victim’s mother did so several months later, triggering an investigation.
TRUSS COLLAPSE KILLED WORKER
GLOBETHEAROUND
Greenfeeds accounts manager Gillian Leivers was handed a 13-year prison sentence, while her husband, company managing director Ian Leivers, was sentenced to 20 months at Leicester Crown Court on 16 June 2022 after a six-week trial. Transport manager Stewart Brown was given a oneyear suspended prison sentence. Greenfeeds was fined £1m for each of the fatalities. The company is now being liquidated. Under the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, entering a confined space is a last resort and should only be permitted when there is a safe working environment and breathing apparatus provided.
WHY? Anderson confirmed that he had not provided full instruction to the victim on the use of PPE such as safety glasses. He also indicated his firm was too small to afford PPE. Judge Raoul Neave ordered $22,500 be paid for emotional harm and consequential loss, given Anderson’s lack of insurance and inability to pay a fine.
On 22 December 2016, yard worker Nathan Walker, 19, was overcome by toxic fumes after attempting to clean a haulage tank that contained around six tonnes of semi-liquid pig feed. Another worker, 35-year-old Gavin Rawson, tried to give assistance, but also collapsed into the tank.
TO PPE
WHAT? A contractor in Florida, US, has been prosecuted after a truss collapse fatally injured a worker. WHO? Top Rank Construction did not follow safety standards and did not ensure the trusses were braced to resist buckling, leaning or collapsing.
CONFINED SPACES
Managers jailed after two workers drown inside haulage tank
Three senior managers at a food waste recycling plant in Leicestershire, England, have received prison sentences for gross negligence that resulted in two workers drowning in pig feed.
LED TO SIGHT LOSS
Find out more, including the inside story from the investigating inspector ioshmagazine.com/greenfeedsat
ATTITUDECAVALIER
WHAT? An employer in New Zealand who failed to provide appropriate eye protection has been sentenced for breaches that cost a young worker his vision in one eye.
Beliefs in and attitudes towards safety underpin OSH culture and, mightculturedoperformance.ultimately,Howwebuildasafetyandhowitchange?
COVER STORY 22
LADDERSANDSTAKES
MINS30 E S afety culture is a relatively young concept. The first references to it appeared in a report by the the(INSAG)SafetyInternationalAtomicInternationalEnergyAgency’sNuclearAdvisoryGroupanalysinglessonsofthe1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. INSAG defined safety culture as ‘that assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organisations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance’ (INSAG, 1986). The definition was carefully worded to emphasise organisational elements and individual attitudes as components of a culture. Cultures of any type are nebulous and hard to quantify compared with an organisation’s economic performance or accident rates, and there have been numerous other attempts to pin down a definition of safety culture in the years since INSAG’s first attempt. The shorthand explanation is that safety culture is ‘the way we do things round here’.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
Bottom-up and... In any analysis of what makes a corporate culture – of which any safety culture is a subcategory – it is easy to disappear down a rabbit hole of academic abstractions,
The lack of a universally agreed definition has not held the concept back; it has spread into other high-hazard industries such as oil and gas companies and eventually into the mainstream, spurred on partly by research suggesting a ‘virtuous circle’ between safety culture and safety performance, including a 2009 IOSH-sponsored study (see The link to performance, right).
The link performanceto A positive correlation between culture and safety performance was found in a study commissioned by IOSH and published in 2009. The research report Safety culture, advice and performance ( report.pdfadvice-and-performance-full-research-iosh.com/media/1547/safety-culture) surveyed 54 business units in 33 organisations, mostly in manufacturing and healthcare (Smith and Wadsworth, 2009).
GEORGEPATRICKILLUSTRATIONS: SAFETY CULTURE 23IOSH MAGAZINE
CLIMATE TO CULTURE
The climate tool is an employee survey that provides a snapshot of a workforce’s attitude to safety and perception of the organisation’s systems and priorities – the safety climate of the business. It is promoted by the HSE as an objective measure of organisational safety culture. As well as the climate measure, the Cardiff study analysed incident management data and risk management performance in areas such as work at height and hazardous substances, using the HSE’s Health and Safety Performance Indicator. The results showed a clear correlation between higher scores on the climate survey and on the performance indicators. At workforce level too, the researchers noted that where perceptions of and attitudes towards safety were more positive, employees reported having fewer accidents and a greater sense of health and wellbeing. Overall, the authors concluded: ‘Safety culture (as measured by safety climate) was associated with safety performance at the corporate level. This association was positive, showing that a more favourable safety culture was associated with improved safety performance.’
Cardiff University researchers Dr Andy Smith and Dr Emma Wadsworth used the GB HSE’s safety climate tool to measure safety culture.
authority on behavioural safety, leadership and organisational culture, agrees that leaders’ actions are one of the biggest influences on culture. Tim has a list of ways they can build trust and promote safe behaviour. ‘The first thing they can do is to lead by example,’ he says. ‘The second thing is to have a genuine learning focus.’
Dr Tim Marsh CFIOSH, co-founder of consultancy Anker Marsh, a visiting professor at Plymouth University and an
LEADERS NEED TO BE IN THE HABIT OF COACHING RATHER THAN TIMESBECAUSETELLING,ITIS10ASEFFECTIVE
Top-down This bottom-up approach in engaging with individual employees’ values must be complemented by top-down input from leaders, Duncan says. This is because they have a clearer view of the complex context of an organisation than many of the staff.
By learning focus, Tim means leaders should adopt the approach summarised in Matthew Syed’s 2015 book Black box thinking – investigating safety failures and incidents with an open mind and without immediately apportioning blame. They should also engage with employees, asking what they need to do the job safely. The third aspect, he says, is positive reinforcement: ‘They need to be in the habit of praising rather than criticising. Leaders need to be in the habit of coaching rather than telling, because it is 10 times as effective. They need to understand why communicating adult to adult is always better than top-down andAuthentic,patronising.’unforced actions of senior leaders can set a ‘fantastic tone’ for an organisation’s culture, says Lawrence Webb CFIOSH, group safety, health and environment strategy director at construction and engineering group Costain and IOSH president elect. ‘But such as human relations theory and structure/agency dualism. But most OSH professionals are interested in the practical steps they might take to promote and maintain a virtuous circle of safety.
COVER STORY 24 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
‘A really simple exercise would be to put the company’s values on a noticeboard and then get employees to say what their own values are, in small groups maybe,’ he says. ‘Then get them to tell you how and where each of their values relates to a company value. So you get people to say: “These are my values and those are the company values and this is how I bridge the gap.”’ ...
Duncan says a bottom-up, employeedriven approach to building a safety culture requires listening to employees and asking them what they need to do their jobs healthily and safely, and then finding the links between their values and those of the business. This helps ensure the behaviour of employees – the day-today expression of safety culture – is based on an understanding of the organisational goals and values.
Duncan Spencer, IOSH head of advice and practice, says that fundamental to building a good culture is understanding that employees all bring their own values to the workplace, and that trying to assert the organisation’s values over these will not often work. ‘Unless you are connected with the values of your employees and they are connected with the values of the company, you are not going to get their engagement,’ he says.
Several models map the ways in which a safety culture can evolve.
The models use different terminology: the Keil Centre model’s lowest stage of safety culture development is termed ‘emerging’ – a more optimistic tone than the equivalent ‘pathological’ stage in the Hudson ladder – while the Bradley curve’s ‘reactive’ terminology lies somewhere in between. However,
One is the five-rung Hudson ladder, also known simply as the ‘safety ladder’, which was developed by Patrick Hudson based on research after the 1988 Piper Alpha oil and gas platform fire in which 167 people died. Another five-stage model was developed by the Keil Centre in Edinburgh at the end of the 1990s, and is used by the UK Rail Safety and Standards Board, among others. The Bradley curve, popularised by consultants Dupont, has four steps.
‘People with mental health issues have more accidents,’ Tim says. ‘They are more distracted, so have less situational awareness; they are more fatalistic, and they create risk around them.’ He points to cases of senior executives in businesses talking publicly about their own struggles with mental health as an ideal model of leading by example to influence the culture.
SHUTTERSTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY: IOSH MAGAZINE 25 SAFETY CULTURE
As businesses come under more pressure to adopt sustainable practices – minimising their harmful impacts on the world and maximising the virtuous ones – positively influencing suppliers to follow suit has become a priority for many larger organisations. Is it possible to have a positive impact on the safety culture of other organisations, whether suppliers or customers? Yes, says Lawrence Webb, but you cannot impose a culture on other organisations. ‘We support suppliers on their journeys,’ he says. ‘When you are talking about an ecosystem, which is what a supply chain is, it is important to remember that there are so many theyiswhereneedrelationshipsinterlinkedthatyoutounderstandeachsupplierculturallyandwhatneed.Otherwise, you may be preaching to the converted or to people who are in such a different place that it’s going to make it difficult for them and forValerieyou.’ McGinty agrees. ‘Tread carefully,’ she advises. ‘You don’t always know what their external factors are in their torelationshiptoenvironment.workingYouhavebuildaconsultativetobegininfluencethem.’
SUPPLY CHAIN SUPPORT
Tread carefully I think it’s important to remember leaders can come from any part of an organisation. So you should support and nurture anybody who can help you create a culture.’
Health benefits As the name suggests, the concept of safety culture has focused mainly on an organisation’s systems for and attitudes towards the immediate risk of accidents rather than longer-term exposure to harm, reflecting its roots in high-hazard industries such as oil and gas. But that leaves the protection of employees from diseases or long-latency conditions, such as those caused by asbestos exposure, out of the cultural picture. Tim says that employers should be expanding the definition to include attitudes and habits affecting health at work, and many are. He argues that mental health should be included, given that the evidence suggests a change in mental health has an impact on sick leave that is more than three times greater than a change in physical health (Bryan et al, 2021). But poor mental health affects safety too.
Ladder and curve
Lawrence emphasises the value of authenticity and acknowledging setbacks.
‘Otherwise, how is the employee going to be able to react with ideas of how they can help? With that dialogue you can tap into the real talent of the organisation.’
COVER STORY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM26 they all describe similar trajectories. That bottom level is marked by collective indifference to safety, except where accidents trigger regulatory sanctions and extra costs. Organisations then move through various stages of beginning to manage safety but only after incidents, then through building management systems and proactive safety measures, to the latter stage of involving staff.
Tapping into talent
The practitioners and researchers we spoke to for this article agree that building a positive safety culture, moving through the various stages of the safety ladder or maturity curve, is a slow process and that it is easy for good work to be undone if the organisation is not consistent in supporting it.
‘Things happening in the news that could influence people’s behaviour and distract them. When the pandemic started, were people’s minds on COVID-19 or on the safe tasks they had to perform?
Assessing an organisation against these models can help identify its level of cultural maturity but can also outline goals to reach the next stage of development. Nevertheless, Lawrence warns that moving up the ladder (or down the curve) takes a lot of planning and resources. It entails careful assessment of the state of an organisation’s culture through climate assessment, but also gathering the views of other stakeholders such as customers and suppliers. And that is just the start: ‘You need to plan your shaping steps and have a change plan in place because cultural realignment is a form of change, and so you need to consider everything that goes with that – such as communications, training and the management structure,’ he adds.
Let’s regroup. How can you help us get back on Duncantrack?”’adds that the engagement with employees must be an authentic dialogue. ‘Part of the honesty and integrity in the system must be that the board tells the truth to the employees, in terms of what the organisation is facing,’ he says.
‘The macro-environment in which we operate does have an influence on our safety culture, and how we adapt and behave is down to the way the company – especially leadership – reacts to that change in a positive and transparent way and takes people with them.’
Tim agrees with the suggestion that trying to foster a robust safety culture is
In the final, optimal stage – termed ‘generative’ in the Hudson ladder, ‘interdependent’ in the Bradley curve and ‘continually improving’ in the Kiel model – health and safety is a responsibility shared by the whole workforce, with employees looking out for themselves and colleagues, and acting to improve conditions and standards wherever they see a need.
Rights issue Valerie McGinty is environmental health and safety leader at aluminium recycling specialist Novelis. She notes that culture will be affected, even temporarily, by factors outside the organisation. ‘You have to respond to what’s happening externally as well as internally,’ she says.
‘You should always be open and honest,’ he says. ‘Where organisations have struggled sometimes is when they are still smiling and saying, “Don’t worry, it’s only a small glitch.” People are smart enough to take the bad with the good, but the bad should be seen as an opportunity not a threat. It’s an opportunity to get better.’ Echoing Tim’s point about adult-to-adult communication, he says: ‘Strong leadership means people who are willing to put their hands up and say “This isn’t going according to plan.
‘Never forget: people are an organisation’s most important asset,’ Lawrence says.
more than just good business: it is one of an organisation’s duties to its employees, and an important strand of its social sustainability obligations, as set out in IOSH’s Catch the Wave campaign. ‘Responsible ethical business practice is important, and a positive health and safety culture plays a part of the complete system that contributes to social sustainability development,’ says Ruth Wilkinson, IOSH head of health and safety.
‘It is what millennials and Generation Z are using to help them to decide which organisations to work for. They are asking “Does this organisation’s values match my own?” The indications are that this is a far more important driver for recruitment than salary, especially for roles paying minimum wages or internships.’
‘The International Labour Organization has recognised that OSH is a fundamental human right,’ says
‘We all want an employer that recognises that our mental health, our social state, our physical wellbeing, our safety, and who we identify as, is important – one that recognises and respects us as human beings,’ Valerie adds.
To view the article’s references, go to ioshmagazine.com/culture
IOSH MAGAZINE 27 SAFETY CULTURE VALUES ARE A FAR MORE IMPORTANT DRIVER FOR RECRUITMENT THAN SALARY, ESPECIALLY FOR ROLES PAYING MINIMUM WAGES OR INTERNSHIPS
Lawrence. ‘Social sustainability is here to stay, and it will be a massive influencer in terms of OSH culture.’ He says that generational changes in the workforce mean that people are less likely to stay with an employer that does not work to promote a positive culture. ‘People are more savvy,’ he says. ‘They have more awareness of their impact on the world as well as the world’s impact on them. And what you do for work is one of the biggest impacts you will have as an individual.’
‘Personal values are nurtured during our childhood and formative years, and they are difficult to shift,’ says Duncan.
‘They bring character, they bring the behaviour, they bring so many opportunities. For many organisations, the way forward is to sit down and say “What does an OSH culture look like for us; how do we go forward?” And that’s the early stages of developing a safety culture; that’s one of your early facilitators to make all these great things happen.’
A new generation
You can call on QMS to help At QMS we’ve been helping businesses for almost 30 years with a simple and cost-effective route to ISO certification. We’re one of the UK’s leading certification bodies and we’re by your side throughout your ISO journey. Find out more and talk to us today Visit qmsuk.com or call 0333 344 3646 free consultation. Achieve the international benchmarks for best practice
Improves your reputation – shows your employees and clients you put physical and mental health first Increases awareness – ensuring your employees take an active role in identifying mental ill health, and health and safety risks
Reduces absenteeism – with processes to protect the wellbeing of your workers
Helps to ensure legal compliance –reducing the costs of incidents and downtime overall onal health and , and your ISO 45001 your to the of es health and best mprove your can c to h At QMS we’ve be yea rou We’re one of the certification bodie side y Find out more an V isit for a consult performance.
How do you embed a culture of health and safety and look after your most important asset –your people?
Manage physical and mental health risks with this power couple – ISO 45001 and ISO 45003
ISO 45003 is the first global standard giving employers practical guidance on managing psychological health in the workplace. By combining this with ISO 45001, the global Standard for occupational health and safety (OH&S) management, you can create a system that can identify and control both physical and psychological risks to your employees. With ISO 45003 and ISO 45001 certification, you can demonstrate your priority to the psychological health of your workers and show your business operates health and safety best practice, as well as improve your organisation’s overall performance.
The benefits of ISO 45001 and ISO Reduces45003therisk of work-related injuries – and in turn boosts productivity
29IOSH MAGAZINE Collaborate SUPPORTING A SHARED VISION OF A SAFE AND HEALTHY WORLD OF WORK IN SECTIONTHIS Evidence is growing around the health risks associated with sedentarism, so how can we encourage workers to be more active, wherever they are working? P31 | Moving from a reactive to a proactive model of risk mangement P36 | Hot topics: your thoughts on key issues of the day P41 | Discover the best online IOSH content, including podcasts and webinars P45 SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATION: STILLLIFE SEDENTARISMP31
sales@cirrusresearch.com www.cirrusresearch.com +44 1723 891655 Noise changes lives. Together, we can prevent the damage it causes to people’s hearing. Download your free eBook today: bit.ly/CirrusIOSH22 We can make measuring and monitoring noise easier for you, helping you to keep people safe from the dangers of excessive exposure. helps you make with equipment that’s compliant with Enjoy peace of mind that you will always have access supportto
31IOSH MAGAZINE SEDENTARISM MINS20
As evidence grows about the health risks associated with sedentarism, we look at the impact of sitting for too long and ask how workplaces can be made more active.
WORDS NICK WARBURTON
Published last year, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s Prolonged static sitting at work report (EU-OSHA, 2021) defined prolonged sitting as being sedentary for two hours or longer at a time.
And unless remote workers balance their home and working life effectively, there is the risk they will work longer days, perhaps in harmful seated positions.
Risk groups European data shows that 39% of workers undertake their work while sitting down and it appears to be an upward trend in European Union member states (Eurostat, 2019). The percentage of people who work with computers, laptops or keyboards for all or almost all of the time rose from 17.6% in 2000 to 30.3% in 2015, and this figure has probably risen further since (EUOSHA, 2021).
Another important at-risk group is older workers and those with chronic musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). These workers usually have existing health conditions that can be exacerbated by extended periods of sitting.
Confronted by this long list of health issues, some commentators have been tempted to frame sedentary behaviours as the new smoking. Charlotte Edwardson, associate professor in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health at the University of Leicester, however, disagrees. She points to research that argues sitting and smoking are not comparable (Vallance et al, ‘The2018).researchers concluded that the risks of chronic disease and dying early that are associated with smoking are substantially higher than those for sitting,’ she says. ‘Unlike sitting, smoking also has serious health consequences for other people.’
‘One of the priority areas for the campaign concerns avoiding risks from
Health impacts According to the World Health Organization’s Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour (2020) higher amounts of sedentary behaviour in adults are associated with a number of poor health outcomes, notably ‘all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and cancer mortality, and incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer and type-2 diabetes’.
The rise in home-working brought about by the pandemic may have exacerbated the situation – employees can be less physically active if they don’t need to commute.
I
n the modern economy, many people’s work involves sitting for long, uninterrupted periods. This sedentary ‘working’ life can be reinforced if people’s leisure pursuits also discourage movement.
The report warns that women are at greater risk than men because they are overrepresented in many predominantly seated jobs. Special care, it adds, should be given to pregnant women (EU-OSHA, 2021). OUR BODIES ARE DESIGNED TO FIDGET. MODERN TECHNOLOGY HAS ROBBED US OF THOSE MOVEMENTSEVERYDAY
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM32 COLLABORATE
‘As the workforce ages, there will be more workers with such conditions,’ the report warns. ‘In addition, because of the increased sedentary nature of work and a rise in the official retirement age, workers today may have an increased exposure to sedentary work across their life course compared with previousZaheergenerations.’OsmanCMIOSH, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, concurs. He says children are using technology from a younger age and have more sedentary lives than their parents.
What is clear is that prolonged sitting can exacerbate MSDs. EU-OSHA is running a Europe-wide campaign, ‘Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load’ (see panel on page 34), which identifies the poor posture associated with extended sitting as a significant contributor to the prevalence of MSDs.
‘Employers are going to be inheriting these problems and they are not just physical,’ he warns. ‘There is a psychological mindset that is difficult for employers to break or affect.’
A South Korean study notes sedentary lifestyles are a global phenomenon. It identifies the main issues as a shortage of ‘available spaces to exercise’, a rise in ‘occupational sedentary behaviours’ and a growth in the ‘penetration of television and video devices’ that discourages physical movement (Park et al, 2020).
KEEP ON MOVING Tips sittingprolongedmitigatingforrisks
• Take your lunch away from your desk.
• Drivers should step out of the cab or vehicle whenever possible, take a short walk during stops and do some stretches.
IOSH is one of the campaign’s supporters and has produced an occupational health toolkit that includes assessment tools, guidance and training to help employers manage the associated risks
Stephen Bowden, chartered ergonomist and human factors specialist at Morgan Maxwell, reinforces this message. ‘People will do 10,000 steps in the morning and then sit for the rest of the day and that is not what the body is designed to do,’ he says.
• Stand up and walk every hour for a few minutes.
• If there are sit-stand desks, alternate posture regularly between the two. A typical example is sit for 30 minutes, stand for 25 minutes and walk for five minutes every hour.
• Create a climate and culture in the organisation that promotes more active working.
33IOSH MAGAZINE SEDENTARISM prolonged sitting and it is promoting practical steps that organisations can take to facilitate an active workplace,’ says Sarah Copsey, project manager at EU-OSHA.
Stephen also cites a US study that tracked 40,000 people through to their death over a 16-year period and found the leading cause of death was low cardiorespiratory fitness (Blair, 2009). ‘He showed that moderate exercise can reduce your risk of early death generally by 50% and outweighs the risk of common risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol,’ he says. Globally, the response to sedentary work has varied, with Nordic countries often cited as being among the most proactive in mitigation measures. In 2015, it was estimated that more than 80% of Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish office workers use sit-stand desks (Bird, 2015). Sit-stand desks are often cited as a panacea for sedentary work. Taylor et al (2015b) considered whether they were worth the investment. It suggested that typically 80% of office time is spent sitting. As the average working day is typically around eight hours, six and a half hours are spent sitting. That same year, Public Health England recommended that employees should spend up to four hours standing and undertaking light activity a day. To achieve this goal, the white paper reported that employers
• Try to change position frequently between sitting, standing and moving around.
• Provide high tables in meeting spaces so people can stand for meetings or breaks.
Wellnomics,effectively.a New Zealand-based company that sells ergonomic workspace and software apps to clients such as Intel, Boeing and Nike, reviewed the risks associated with sedentary behaviour and warned that people can achieve or exceed public health guidelines for physical exercise – generally recommended as 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise – but still be sedentary or sitting most of the day (Taylor et al, 2015a).
‘As Dr Joan Vernikos says [in her book, Sitting kills, moving heals], the body is a perpetual motion machine. There is a desire to move from the moment you wake up to the moment you sleep. It is designed to fidget. Modern technology has robbed us of those everyday movements.’
• When sitting, change position frequently – socalled ‘dynamic sitting’.
• Drivers should take plenty of short breaks.
Sitting or standing?
• Drivers, pilots and office workers should move their feet from heel to toe when sat down to encourage blood circulation.
SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATIONS: RESOURCE Back to basics with managing MSDs: managing-msdsioshmagazine.com/
The research looked at four studies that compared intervention groups provided with sit-stand workstations to controls with normal desks. Although its conclusion was that sit-stand workstations were ‘potentially one of the best solutions’ to increase health without harming productivity, significant investment was needed to encourage take-up and sustained usage (Taylor et al, 2015b).
theLightenWorkplacesHealthyLoad
Interestingly, the Wellnomics white paper cited a 2014 literature review that looked at seven studies and found six workplaces that used sit-stand desks had reported improvements in subjective discomfort (Karakolis and Callaghan, 2014).
MSD RISK FACTORS
EU-OSHA’s 2020-2022 campaign focuses on the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It promotes an integrated approach to manage the risk factors that cause MSDs such as posture-related risks and exposure to repetitive movement and offers practical workplace tools andThesolutions.campaign includes a ‘Get moving at work’ fact sheet that outlines health recommendations and contains tips for employers and workers. These include taking frequent micro breaks, stretching breaks in meetings and ‘dynamic sitting’, with specific advice for drivers.
Muscle memory
Prolonged standing ‘A lot of people associate being sedentary with sitting down because that is the most common position but people don’t realise that standing for too long puts a lot of pressure on the lower back and other muscles in the body,’ says Jo Frape, OSH content developer at IOSH.
Charlotte’s research team at the University of Leicester, who led research into the effectiveness of the Stand More AT (SMArT) Work intervention, published in the BMJ, noted other benefits (Edwardson et al, ‘We2018a).found that if we can reduce people’s sitting time by about 60 to 80 minutes a day, they have benefits such as improved self-perceived job performance, reduced fatigue levels, improved work engagement, quality of life, and some small musculoskeletal improvements.’
a factory may be standing for over eight hours, so employers should think about job rotation, so they can vary their position.’
Ita says one of the most significant, lowcost investments to encourage movement in the office is Bluetooth headsets. ‘They allow people to get up and walk around during meetings and when they are not needed on camera,’ she says. ‘It gets them into the habit of standing up and taking a break.’Stephen cites Dr James A Levine, who coined the term ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’ (or NEAT) and his book Get up, which notes how individuals can burn an extra 300 calories a day just by doing everyday movements, such as getting up from a chair regularly and taking the stairs.
Participants in this study also reported improved energy levels and cognitive functioning (Biddle et al, 2020).
34 COLLABORATE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM would need to increase their non-sedentary time by around two and a half hours.
‘Someone on a production line or in
Jo agrees employers need to do more to raise awareness of the importance of regular movement (see Tips for mitigating prolonged sitting risks on page 33), not just at work but also at home. She says a preventative approach is the priority. Jo advises employers to make sure all their risk assessments are in place and regularly monitor home workers to ensure they are following safe working practices and don’t go over their hours.
Charlotte says it is beneficial if individuals can self-monitor their activities. ‘That can be wearables, phone apps or software that increases people’s awareness of how much time they spend sitting,’ she says. ‘They can provide prompts to break up their sitting.’
‘They have got to want to change but the only way that you will do that is to make movement part of their job,’ says Stephen. ‘Otherwise people won’t move.’ Go to sedentarismioshmagazine.com/workplace-forthereferences.
Ita Leyden CMIOSH, consultant ergonomist and forensic engineer for Ireland-based Leyden Consulting Engineers, says that, from her experience, ‘unless sit-stand desks are encouraged on an on-going basis and training is provided, they are never used’ – an observation shared by other Zaheerinterviewees.explainsthat one of the challenges is unlearning behaviour. ‘If you are in one position all the time,’ he says, ‘your body starts remembering that posture so when you start to change it, it feels harder work and counterintuitive because your muscles have memorised a different posture.’
Stephen adds that employers need to promote activity-based working, designing office space for multiple activities so individuals have to get up from their desk and move around.
The team has developed a freely available online toolkit called SMArT Work & Life that is designed to reduce the time that office workers spend sitting inside and outside work. They also conducted a further study to compare this intervention when delivered with and without heightadjustable workstations (Edwardson et al, 2018b). Results will be published soon.
Ultimately though, unless individuals want to modify their behaviour, sedentary lifestyles are here to stay.
COLLABORATE 36 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM WORDS NICK WARBURTON MINS20 Business leaders committed to superlative safety performance must lead by example, draw on workers’ insights and practical skills, and ensure corrective and preventive actions.
IOSH’s safety model starts with an ‘embryonic’ safety culture and moves through the ‘active’ and ‘proactive’ phases to ‘integrated’ – the highest level of maturity. The model provides greater clarity on this journey and helps define a mature safety culture.
RISK PREVENTION IOSH MAGAZINE 37
It’s self-evident that businesses should prioritise a preventive approach to OSH practices, but the reality is that all companies are on a journey that reflects their different levels of safety culture maturity (see Defining culture on page 39). At the start of this journey, businesses will either fall short of meeting even basic OSH compliance, or demonstrate limited compliance and merely react to events. At the end, the most proactive organisations can offer a blueprint for poorer performers.
As Angela Gray, senior OSH specialist at IOSH, explains, organisations that take a reactive approach focus entirely on lagging indicators – metrics that provide insights into past incidents, such as the frequency of injuries and illnesses – and then act in response. In contrast, a proactive approach benefits from using leading (or predictive) indicators – measures that precede or indicate a future event – to gain real-time insight
Of course, it’s possible to combine leading and lagging indicators to create a proactive approach. Nevertheless, behavioural safety experts agree that leadership, employee engagement, and corrective and preventive action (CAPA) centred on avoiding SIFs should be the primary focus if businesses want to achieve and then maintain a mature safety culture.
‘Where you have an organisation with people at the very top who embrace their “duty of care”, drive forward safety agendas and are seen to be doing something positive to protect people’s health and safety, that is the beginning of a good safety culture,’ explains Murray Provan CMIOSH, director at health and safety consultancy Proactive Scotland Ltd and a former GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector. ‘It’s important to transmit this message downstream to people at the sharp end, giving them a set of beliefs and values that you have as a leader. That’s where safety culture as a general term gets rooted and grows. Trust is critical to all of Thisthis.’ trust in leaders is why employee engagement is such an integral part of cultural maturity. Many businesses engage workers in the decision-making process, but policies and practices will only be effective if leaders value their expertise and insights.
‘This is where trust comes in,’ notes Murray.
Leaders’ influence Leadership is the fundamental first step and includes frontline supervisors, the board, the senior executive team and the entire management and leadership structure.
Although proactive measures – investing the time and resources in health and safety – can sometimes be perceived as being more expensive in the short term, the reality is that a reactive approach can often be far more costly. If an accident happens, a business will need to take corrective actions that could have been implemented before the incident occurred. There may also be additional costs, such as reputational loss or fines resulting from prosecutions.
Wrong targets
MANY BUSINESSES ENGAGE WORKERS IN DECISION-MAKING, BUT POLICIES AND PRACTICES WILL ONLY
‘Let them tell you how they can do things better – give them the opportunity to do it and allow them to do it,’ says John McNamee, co-founder of consultancy firm Ravensdale Health, Safety & Wellbeing. ‘Thank them and recognise that they’ve done it. If you engage them and genuinely listen to what they have to say, very often they will surprise you.’
‘However, the same performance against a different team could give a 10-0 win.’ This mindset can mean businesses react to events rather than work proactively.
John adds that decision-makers can also measure the wrong things – ‘moving targets’ – by looking at results rather than measuring performance. He takes a football match as an allegory to explain why this approach is counterproductive. ‘Your team loses 3-1, but it was the best game you ever played. You beat yourself up for losing and no one plays that well again,’ he says.
38 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM into OSH performance. More importantly, leading indicators focus on preventing issues that could lead to a serious injury or fatalitySignifi(SIF).cantly, as IOSH’s safety model shows, a proactive approach can enable businesses to differentiate between operational and significant risks, ensuring the focus falls on tackling major risks.
‘If managers respond positively, it leads to an improved workplace culture. The message goes around that the managers can be trusted to do something about it.’ One of the criticisms levelled at business leaders is that it is not uncommon for them to manipulate SIF figures because they want their actual safety performance to look better than it is.
John says that assessing safety practices before an incident happens can be especially productive. He advises businesses to take an activity or operational project that went well, and ask everyone to explore why it was successful and why no incidents occurred. Then look to replicate that approach. However, if directors don’t ensure CAPA is done, there is a risk that the workforce will start to withdraw from the safety process because they will lose faith in their leaders.
Another area where frontline workers can improve safety cultures is in incident investigation. This could be in lessons learned after a minor injury has occurred, following discussions with the workforce about whether the incident could have been more serious (reactive). Alternatively, it could be a behavioural safety observation and conversations about the potential for that behaviour to have led to a SIF (proactive).
SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATION:
EFFECTIVE
‘The proactive approach is the most beneficial and cost-effective way of working. It’s all about prevention of harm and loss,’ says Angela. ‘If you are constantly working in a reactive way, you are not going to move forward and improve performance. You will be reacting with “corrective” action but omitting to address “preventive” action’.
To avoid focusing on the wrong metrics, it’s important to measure performance quantifiably. A popular method of doing this is to make goals SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. These targets should be supported by initiatives or interventions that demonstrate continuous improvement, good OSH leadership behaviour and an integratedAlthoughapproach.high-risk sectors and larger businesses have more resources than small- and medium-sized ones, it is clear from HSE prosecutions that even major BE IF
LEADERS VALUE THEIR EXPERTISE AND INSIGHTS COLLABORATE
Oliver Williams CMIOSH, regional health and safety manager at employment consultant WorkNest, has highlighted how large companies may be in multiple places on the safety maturity scale because they have different groups that undertake a range of tasks, each with differing risks and working conditions (Williams, 2021). He says that in pinpointing their position on the scale, businesses should look at regional or even departmental differences in culture.
Angela agrees that leaders can resent OSH responsibilities taking up their time.
Angela says a balance must be found.
For OSH professionals looking to identify or change their workplace’s OSH approach to better prevent harm, Angela has this advice: ‘In reporting performance, you need a balance. You want lagging indicators, but also proactive activities to improve performance. Get the balance right. Challenge the status quo positively; don’t accept that “We’ve always done it this way.” Stay curious: keep asking questions.’
ABILITYINAPPROACHREACTIVEHASITSSTRENGTHSHOWINGTHETOCHANGE
‘However, if there is a good, open and honest culture where people talk to each other and share ideas for improvements – and have a good background in risk perception training – that is critical.’
Although SMEs with few resources are therefore more likely to adopt a reactive approach, Murray says it’s positive if a business demonstrates a desire to learn from past incidents. ‘That’s where a reactive approach has its strength,’ he says. ‘It shows a willingness and acceptance of responsibility and the ability to change. That’s also a measure of safety culture.’
The HSE defines safety culture as ‘the product of individual and group values, attitudes, highlytheorproductionunconscioustheresignifimanagement’theCommission,measures’theandthesharedoncommunications‘arepositiveCommission,(Healthandof,thetheofcompetenciesperceptions,andpatternsbehaviourthatdeterminecommitmentto,andstyleandproficiencyanorganisation’shealthsafetymanagement’andSafety1993).Organisationswithasafetyculturecharacterisedbyfoundedmutualtrust,byperceptionsofimportanceofsafetytheconfidenceinefficacyofpreventive(HealthandSafety1993).TheHSEstressesthat‘cultureandstyleofisparticularlycant.Forexample,canbea‘natural,biasforoversafety,atendencytofocusonshorttermandbeingreactive’(HSE,2022).
‘You are asking them to do investigations and inspections, but it is to educate them. The time element is the challenge at first.’ Occupational health is one area where A
IOSH MAGAZINE RISK PREVENTION 39 a proactive approach can be particularly difficult to achieve, says John, but adds that prosecutions for safety breaches tend to focus corporate minds. He argues that more emphasis should fall on designing out health risks before projects start – especially as designs don’t always necessarily serve a structuralHowever,purpose.evenbusinesses with the best intentions can’t be proactive all the time.
VALUES
cultureDefining
add-onasseeorganisations,responsibility.inofandbeliefs,behaviours,valuespersonalitiesindividualspositionsof‘Insomeleadershealthandsafetyanannoyingratherthansomething that is really important to protect themselves and the people who work for them,’ argues Murray.
Strategic buy-in Regardless of a business’s resources and size, the importance of duty of care will depend on the
‘It comes back to the safety culture and cascading it down.’
As strong and visible leadership behaviour is important in maturing a safety culture, she adds that OSH needs to be made a strategic imperative, throughout the value chain. And as Murray says, the safety journey is never over: ‘You can’t rest on your laurels; if you take that attitude, you’ve failed. It should be: “There’s always room for improvement and we can do better.”’
‘You can have a really safety-conscious workplace, but something might happen that nobody could have foreseen and everyone has to react to it,’ she explains.
To view the article’s references, go to ioshmagazine.com/proactive players can have serious incidents.
t. 01706 217122 m. 0792 191 4099 e. michael@securushealthandsafety.co.uk IOSH Approved Coaching for safety Better solutions less risk Better buy-in more ownership Better engagement safer behaviour Call now!Bethe best you can be “Excellent content. New skills learned. Great conversations. 100% I would recommend this course to others!” Senior Health, Safety & Environment Adviser, BAE Systems Maritime Live by Zoom Wednesday 19 th and Thursday 20th October 2022 (Places are strictly limited)
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Readioshmagazine.com/carlsberg-fatalitythefullstoryonpage20.
IOSH’S FRAMEWORKCOMPETENCY iosh.com/my-iosh/competency-framework
£3m fine for Carlsberg after ‘entirely preventable’ fatality
CF: Behavioural – Communication (communicating effectively) Technical – Risk management (risk assessment and analysis) Sad to have lost a life in such preventable circumstances. The incident speaks to protocols governing management of contractors, control of hazardous energies and management of asyphixiating and toxic gases. The GB Health and Safety Executive has spelt out what should have been done. The key takeaway is how business treats ‘specialist’ contractors. The site owner should always remember that no matter how qualified the specialist contractor is, the person with the best knowledge of the site and the associated risk is always the site owner. And it is they that bear the highest responsibility in preventing harm to workers and other persons. Jerry Mutegi
MINS10 41IOSH MAGAZINE REFLECTIONS
IOSH members give their opinions to articles on ioshmagazine.com and we demonstrate how these comments align to the IOSH competency framework.
CF: Behavioural – Communication (communicating effectively) Technical – Risk management (risk assessment and analysis)
TOPICST
learnt.goodinvestigation,Excellentlesson Hamdan This format perfect!membersfeedbackinvestigationfortois GlendinningDarren
H
Readioshmagazine.com/volkerrail-comathefullstoryon page 20.
£550,000 fine for VolkerRail after trench collapse left worker in coma
Looking to take the next step in your career? iosh.com How ready are you for the next global challenge? Our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses make sure you’ve got the skills and knowledge to stay at the top of your game Covering a variety of areas, they will give you the tools and resources to ensure you learn, develop and exceed in your career. Search for ‘CPD courses’ at iosh.com keep yourself updated ontinnuing s edge ng a and xceed your career. ch courses’ at ep
Hybrid working models could be a good balance if managed right. However, it is becoming more apparent that this has become fixed on the same midweek days.
Christopher Lightowler ioshmagazine.com/hybrid-loneliness
loneliness epidemic
To say I am shocked to learn of his passing is a huge understatement, and to be honest hasn't properly sunk in yet. My thoughts go to Chris’s family and friends. Jeremy Shocked and saddened to hear this news. We studied the NEBOSH diploma alongside each other at the Sheffield EEF in the mid 1990s. He was working in the foundry industry at the time, as was I. It was a pleasure to spend that time with Chris, and I watched his career go from strength to strength from afar. He certainly left a lasting legacy. Lee Daniels So sorry to hear this news. Chris was very innovative in his approach to safety management and some of his work was truly inspirational. A sad loss to IOSH and the industry as a whole. Danny ioshmagazine.com/chris-jerman
CF: Technical – Risk management (risk assessment and analysis) Did the school carry out its own risk assessment or did it employ a consultant? If the latter, presumably the consultant was covered by some kind of insurance and the school was probably reimbursed. Pontefractious ioshmagazine.com/school-wall
Obituary: in memory of Chris Jerman CFIOSH Chris Jerman CFIOSH will be known and admired by many in the profession. He sadly lost his fight with cancer and passed away on 2 June 2022. I never had the pleasure of meeting Chris in person, though we had a number of exchanges across various IOSH forums, always with good humour and yet always with great respect for the subject.
43IOSH MAGAZINE REFLECTIONS
Tackling hybrid working’s
The Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday staff also have to deal with the added pressures of condensing every face-to-face activity into 24 hours instead of spread across the usual 40.
HSE/ROADANDRAILOFOFFICESHUTTERSTOCK/ISTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY:
LET US KNOW Do you have an observation or comment on an article you’ve read in the magazine or online? Or perhaps you’ve had to deal with an incident at work? Contact the editorial team with your thoughts and you might see your reflections on these pages. Email us at editorial@ioshmagazine.com
School must pay £63,000 after fatal fall over low wall
CF: Technical – culture (employee Behaviouralwelfare)–Workingwithothers(empathy)
Looking to take the next step in your career? Looking to take the next step in your career? IOSHjobs.comioshjobs.com is your global one-stop shop for new and exciting OSH jobs and Youropportunities.perfectroleis just a click away.aw
This is a book that reflects our time; it feels like ‘the era of safety and wellbeing’. The author does a fine job of mapping how the perceived momentousness of this historical milieu may play out in the workplace. Mental health in the workplace by Libby Morley-Hassanali
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• Sharing chemical safety information with staff and key stakeholders, such as contractors and emergency personnel • Chemical reporting and legislation. Watch it at ioshmagazine.com/webinars
45IOSH MAGAZINE OPINION
The wider view
• Sourcing compliant safety data sheets
Did you know you can download and read this issue online? Every issue of IOSH magazine is available at ioshmagazine.com/issue-archive
PODCAST Hybrid work and MSDs – from the experts
yiny.cesus
The members of IOSH’s application and practice team always have their noses in a book, learning and developing their knowledge so they can pass on expertise to members. Neurodiversity at work by Theo Smith and Amanda Kirby
• Designing and developing a COSHH chemical risk assessment template
This guide ‘brings together the crucial aspects of supporting and managing mental health in the workplace’ and is a good example of the importance of the need for health and safety professionals to collaborate.
BOOK CLUB
• Challenges and the main points of managing COSHH manually
In episode 14 of our podcast series, IOSH Future Leaders interviewed Matt Birtles, the GB Health and Safety Executive’s ergonomics guru, to find out what organisations should be doing to safeguard hybrid workers against musculoskeletal disorders. Listen at ioshmagazine.com/podcast VIDEO Drugs at work We look at how the pandemic has increased the use of drugs and alcohol at work. Hundreds of you have watched our video already – if you missed it, visit ioshmagazine.com/videos
Read our book reviews at ioshmagazine.com/book-club
Organisations are facing increasing levels of scrutiny. Investors, customers and regulators want assurances that businesses are looking after workers and communities, writes IOSH’s Angela Gray. Read more at ioshmagazine.com/opinion
This book aims to highlight how organisations can improve business outcomes, employee satisfaction and brand impact by recruiting, supporting, and valuing neurodiversity in the workplace. People power by Karen J Hewitt
OPINION Wellbeing – it’s personal IOSH president-elect Lawrence Webb has been working on the wellbeing agenda as SHE strategy director at construction company Costain. He tells us more in his latest article for ioshmagazine.com Time to rebalance?
• How to build a chemical inventory
WEBINAR Free on-demand CPD How can digitisation simplify Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) compliance? IOSH magazine recently hosted a one-hour webinar in partnership with EcoOnline, and thousands of you tuned in to watch the panel discussion live. In this webinar, our expert panel covered:
47IOSH MAGAZINE EMPOWERING HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFESSIONALS AROUND THE WORLD IN SECTIONTHIS From respiratory infection to reduced cognitive function, our health and wellbeing can be severely affected by the built environment, so what are the foundations for a truly healthy building? P48 | The difference between box-ticking compliance and real safety P54 | What it means for you now that IOSH is an Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation P58 Influence HOPKINSONDANIELPHOTOGRAPHY: Building better HEALTHY WORKPLACESP48
There is burgeoning interest in how the built environment shapes our health – but what makes buildings healthy, what evidence underpins them, and what role can OSH play?
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM MINS30
48 WORDS BECKY ALLEN INFLUENCE FOUNDATIONSHEALTHY
There is growing evidence that indoor pollutants – including nitrogen oxides, particulates and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from office equipment, paints and furnishings
T he thinking about health is evolving. Across government and healthcare, and among researchers and employers, there is a growing realisation that to improve wellbeing we must look beyond healthcare and towards the social determinants of health – the conditions in which we are born, grow, work, live and age, plus the forces and systems that shape our daily lives. These social determinants have a massive influence upon our health.
HEALTH
The school’s The 9 foundations of a healthy building report has become both bedrock and manifesto for the healthy building movement. It aims to simplify the concepts behind healthy buildings because, it argues, the major barrier is not a lack of evidence but that the science needs translating into a form that policymakers, developers and employers can use.
49IOSH MAGAZINE
IOSH’s manifesto states that good engineering and good design are at the heart of socially responsible business and government – and calls on governments to ensure that new projects factor in safety and health from day one. Today, the need for healthy buildings is greater than ever. Humankind is an increasingly urban species, with more than half of us now living in cities; according to the World Health Organization, many Americans and Europeans spend around 90% of their time indoors (WHO, 2013). Changing populations, cities, buildings and work are among the 10 mega-trends shaping our world, our buildings and us, according to research body Healthy Buildings for Health, part of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Florence Nightingale [pioneering 19th-century nurse and social reformer] had strong opinions about how hospital design affected the health of patients and nurses. She advocated for decent nurses’ accommodation and argued with architects over hospital plans. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sanatoria sprung up in the UK and Europe to treat tuberculosis sufferers. The need for fresh air and sunshine was built into these; at the Princess Hospital for Women – part of the Papworth TB colony
IMAGESIKONILLUSTRATION: BUILDING HEALTH The buildingoffoundationsnineahealthy • Ventilation • Air quality • Thermal health • Moisture • Dust and pests • Safety and security • Water quality • Noise • Lighting and views CHURCHILL WROTE: 'WE SHAPE BUILDINGSAFTERWARDSBUILDINGS,OURANDOURSHAPE US' Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 2017
near Cambridge – patients were wheeled onto balconies as part of their Winstontreatment.Churchill was also aware of the impact of design, writing in 1943 that ‘we shape our buildings; and afterwards our buildings shape us.’
The nine foundations include ventilation, air quality and moisture (see all nine, below). For example, proper ventilation is important because otherwise the concentration of pollutants indoors can exceed that of outdoor air. Research shows poor ventilation is associated with increased sickness absence, reduced productivity and higher respiratory infection.
Chris Naylor leads the strategic programme on healthier places and communities for English health charity The King’s Fund. He believes the increasing interest in healthy buildings is being driven by ideas about social health determinants. ‘The places we live, the places we work, and the kind of opportunities available to us during our lives – all these things have a bigger impact on our health and wellbeing than clinical care services,’ he says. Buildings shape us These ideas are not new.
Achieving WELL’s platinum standard requires a score of 80 points; The Spine scores around 104. ‘We’ve gone miles beyond the highest standard. And because it formed part of the design from the briefing stage rather than bolting things on down the line, it only added around 2% to capital costs. Everyone was flabbergasted that we could deliver it so cheaply.’ There are many cost-effective ways to achieve similar outcomes. Robert’s advice for smaller organisations and other sectors is to think big. ‘Look at possible outcomes first and then consider the costs. You might be pleasantly surprised.’
CASE STUDY
The Spine uses air filters that remove 70% of atmospheric particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres (µg) in size, known as PM2.5 particles. WELL’s PM2.5 limit is 15µg/m3 –and The Spine has never exceeded 4µg/m3 WELL states that 60% of a building’s occupants should be within 7.5m [24.6ft] of natural daylight. In The Spine, all workstations are within 7.5m (24.6ft) of a window, also providing a view of the outside world.
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers considers workplace CO2 levels of 1200 parts per million (ppm) as ‘good’. WELL awards points for CO2 levels of 900 ppm. ‘We took the view that if CO2 levels outside are 400 ppm and rising, we should target 800 ppm,’ says Robert. ‘But in fact, the building’s air quality monitors show it’s not exceeded 600 ppm.’
The Spine, Liverpool
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
The Royal College of Physicians’ northern hub in Liverpool has been described as one of the healthiest buildings in the world. We talk to its architect, Robert Hopkins of AHR (pictured).
While noise-induced hearing loss is a common OSH issue, studies show chronic exposure to lower levels of noise are associated with hypertension and reduced productivity (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 2017). Similarly, understanding about light has moved ‘The aim was to translate the core values of the Royal College of Physicians [RCP] into built form. We wanted to create an environment with a measurable positive impact on people – a workplace that let them thrive and flourish,’ says Robert. The WELL standard was crucial to The Spine’s aspirations, he explains: ‘When we won the project to design The Spine in 2017, the standard was less than three years old and there was only one WELL-certified building in theTheUK.’RCP liked the fact that WELL was measurable and backed by scientific research. ‘That meant the RCP could understand our design decisions,’ Robert says. For Robert, key factors for The Spine are lighting and air quality.
‘That means we have slightly higher ceilings, which means everyone gets a view,’ Robert says. ‘There are no artificial sources of circadian light; we just use the sun as our circadian light system, which data shows gives you 45 minutes of extra sleep per night.’
50 INFLUENCE – are as harmful as outdoor ones. Poor air quality can cause effects such as irritation and asthma, and can reduce productivity through reduced cognitive function (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health,Temperature2017). is important for healthy buildings. It can affect comfort and performance as well as health, including the transmission of viruses such as influenza and COVID-19, while moisture can increase asthma, allergies and infections (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 2017).
Ventilation systems in many buildings concentrate particulate matter in comparison with external air because they don’t remove the smallest particles.
HOPKINSONDANIELPHOTOGRAPHY:
Shaping buildings Healthy building ideas are also taking shape in the UK. The King’s Fund and NHS England have run major projects to put such concepts into practice. The first, Enhancing the Healing Environment, was a King’s Fund programme commissioned by the Department of Health in 2000. It worked with more than 250 teams from hospitals, hospices and prisons to improve the built environment. Several of the programme’s projects focused on making hospital environments less alienating for people with dementia, and showed that different lighting, floor coverings and other inexpensive interventions reduced falls and violent or aggressive behaviour as well as improving staff morale and reducing overall costs (The King’s Fund, 2022).
‘Healthy New Towns came out of a recognition that we have a growing population and a need to build more homes. At the same time, the NHS is trying to change its way of working, delivering services differently – and better – than it did in the past,’ says Chris. Witnessing these large-scale housing developments, ‘the NHS realised it was a major opportunity to put in better services and – crucially – to make the built environment itself something that helps promote health andGoodwellbeing’.practice is also flowing from new building standards, such as WELL and IMMUNE. Launched in 2014 by the International WELL Building Institute, the WELL Building Standard is the first to focus on the ways buildings can improve comfort and enhance health and wellbeing. It offers four levels of certification, from bronze to platinum, with points awarded in seven areas (see overleaf).
The second, Healthy New Towns, was an NHS England programme supported by The King’s Fund, the Town and Country Planning Association and others. It involved 10 demonstrator sites from across England (Naylor, 2019).
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HEALTH
The Spine emphasises natural lighting and views of the world outside
ASPERFORMANCEBOOSTCONDITIONSENVIRONMENTALCANCOGNITIVEBYMUCHAS100%
In 2018, the Porter Building in Slough became the UK’s first office building to gain WELL gold certification. It was designed to feature abundant natural light, fresh air, indoor planting and noise reduction measures. In 2021, The Spine – the Royal College of Physicians’ new northern hub in Liverpool – aimed higher, setting its sights on platinum certification. beyond simple illumination. Research on circadian rhythms, sleep and the health effects of shift work, plus technological advances such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), make illumination key to healthy buildings (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 2017). So much for the effects of unhealthy buildings; what of those of healthy buildings? Recent studies from research teams at Harvard, Syracuse University in New York and the Well Living Lab in Minnesota say healthy buildings are indeed beneficial. These researchers study workers performing their daily tasks –plus a battery of cognitive tests – while factors such as ventilation, carbon dioxide and VOCs are manipulated. Results show that the ‘best’ environmental conditions can boost cognitive performance by as much as 100% (Allen et al, 2016).
Future Designs uses tunable lighting in its Kent factory, which operates three shifts over a 20-hour period. ‘It’s not about getting the team to work faster – it’s about making them feel better,’ David says. He decided to use the IMMUNE standard to keep his workforce safe while boosting their wellbeing. The company was designated a key industry at the start of the first UK lockdown in March 2020, and the standard helped it implement changes – from canteen rotas to cleaning regimes – to combat COVID-19.
aretobuildingsClements,Davidhealthyareascrucialhisworkforceastheytohiscustomers.‘Wehavetwofactories – one in south London and the other in Kent. For us, healthy building standards go hand in hand with tunable lighting,’ he says. Tunable – or human-centric – lighting is a way of adapting illumination to suit the human body’s circadian rhythm. The concept is key to the WELL standard and the nine foundations; also, says David, it’s based on long experience and Future Designs' tunable lighting sound science: ‘We’ve known about the importance of light in buildings since the days of Florence Nightingale, but it’s only through development of LEDs that we’ve had the opportunity to optimise how we create tunable lighting.’
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Born out of the pandemic, the Healthy by Design Building Institute’s IMMUNE Building Standard is the world’s first to address health threats in the built environment. In 2021, Future Designs, a UK-based commercial lighting designer and manufacturer, became the world’s first industrial building to gain the standard. For founder and CEO
With a major focus on biophilic design – which aims to connect people more closely to nature – it includes a series of doubleheight spaces with rich mixes of plants and trees to help reduce CO2 and boost oxygen levels (see Case study on page 50).
DESIGN
Go to buildingsioshmagazine.com/healthy-forthereferences.
The healthy building movement represents challenges as well as opportunities for OSH. There are many areas of overlap between core OSH topics – from temperature and ventilation to noise and wellbeing – and the foundations of healthy buildings.
‘For OSH as a profession, it’s a huge opportunity,’ Christopher concludes.
Mind: How do we use the landscape to connect people with nature?
Fitness: How do we throughactiveencouragelifestylesdesign? Water: Can we guarantee access to drinkinghigh-qualityconsistentlywater? Nourishment: Can we ourchoiceshealthierencouragefoodthroughretailmix?
Comfort: How can we minimise noise, forprovidetemperaturesregulateandeasyaccesseveryone?
HEALTH ISTOCKPHOTOGRAPHY:
Light: Will we get sufficient natural daylight indoors?
the healthy building movement presents huge opportunities. Healthy buildings could help create partnerships within and beyond organisations, such as with human resources on performance and with architects and designers on new buildings or major refurbs.
‘This is an era in which workers’ experience of wellbeing has taken centre stage. As organisations develop a greater understanding of wellbeing and how to achieve it, there will be greater recognition of the role of OSH professionals. COVID-19 is a prime example – it highlighted the contribution OSH professionals can make.
The challenge for OSH professionals, says Dr Christopher Davis, research programme lead at IOSH, is to bridge the gap between these core areas and performance while keeping sight of the fundamentals.
Opportunities for OSH
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StandardBuildingthebehindConceptsWELLAir: Can we use ventilation to improve levels of fresh air?
‘The link between organisational performance and OSH is one that’s historically underexplored. There is a virtuous circle – if workers are safe, then they feel safe, and are more engaged and more productive. But for that to happen, we need to understand all those elements and the relationships between them,’ he says. ‘Equally, we need to be careful that – due to the ever-evolving role of OSH professionals – we don’t lose sight of the Thosebasics.’working for cash-strapped SMEs based in old buildings face additional challenges. ‘There’s a big difference between OSH professionals working in well-resourced organisations with the budget and influence to make large-scale changes and those working in legacy buildings who are limited in what they can do,’ Christopher adds. ‘OSH professionals will need awareness, competence and willingness in those Nevertheless,cases.’
‘Practitioners need to buy into this if they are to recognise the difference they already make and to realise they are much more valuable than they previously thought.’
What is compliance anyway? Compliance can be defined as ‘the action or fact of complying with a wish or command’. For many of us, the word conjures up ideas of prescriptive rules and regulations. Having supported organisations’ health
BOX-TICKINGBEYOND
What’s the difference between absolute compliance and being truly safe? Scott Crichton CMIOSH takes a look. MINS20
Is it possible to be 100% compliant, 100% of the time? In the realm of health and safety, it’s a large and potentially controversial question. Having taken to social media to seek other people’s perspectives, I quickly learned that there’s a lot to unpack. Interestingly, of the 428 OSH professionals I polled, 80% felt absolute compliance is not an achievable, or even desirable, feat.
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Whatever your initial reaction to that question, there’s an abundance of literature that we can collectively learn from in our quest to a safer, healthier world.
Terminology such as ‘violations’ and ‘breaches’ probably doesn’t help, as this only adds to our obsession with ticking boxes and the idea that absolute compliance is a real and achievable goal. Added to this, I’m aware that what I see during an audit is only valid for a small window of time, that any OSH professional visiting an area of work may be unable to see all processes, and that varying demands may well apply pressures that could force non-compliant actions (Provan, 2017).
Pro-compliance?48016%%%
Yes
69 votes No 344 votes I'll explain 17 votes
ISTOCKILLUSTRATION:
428 OSH professionals were asked: 'Is absolute compliance an achievable or desirable feat?'
ANDBETWEENTHETRULYORGANISATIONSUNDERSTANDDIFFERENCECOMPLIANTSAFE?
Thus, it is very difficult to ever say that you are absolutely compliant (Muschara et al, This2021).constant state of compliance that organisations strive for is arguably not conducive, as it means organisations miss individual thoughts, moments of inspiration, entrepreneurial skills and moments of creativity (Dekker, 2014) – all things that help environments actually become safer. Promoting a bareminimum approach In her Building a safer future report in the UK following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, Dame Judith Hackitt said that building regulation systems were not fit for purpose. Moreover, she suggests a pervasive problem whereby organisations and their leaders just want to be compliant – assuming that, by doing so, they are safe and protected from redress (Hackitt, 2018).
DO
55IOSH MAGAZINE COMPLIANCE and safety efforts for the past 15 years, my experience is that many are fixated on this idea of compliance. In fact, the first question I’m often asked is, ‘How do I become and remain compliant?’ While it’s encouraging that organisations are concerned with fulfilling health and safety requirements, do they truly understand the difference between compliant and safe? Perhaps ‘How do I become and remain safe?’ is a more worthwhile question to ask. It depends who you ask Due to our unique viewpoints and perceptions, it is hard to define what we really mean by ‘being compliant’ in the firstAsplace.OSH professionals, we know that being compliant means following a prescribed set of conditions that have been set before us. The business leaders I engage with daily also know this and, typically, their primary aim is to be in a place of meeting their legal duties – no more, noForless.instance, some people believe that if they are found to be 100% compliant in an audit, they are doing all they need to do to meet their obligations. As we know, that isn’t necessarily true. Because of this perspective, people are often surprised when presented with areas for improvement (‘You’re the first person to raise this with us!’). All of this creates a false impression of absolute compliance, and this is a perception that needs to be addressed.
Source: Scott Crichton
Practitioners still have much work to do to challenge this mindset. Leaders need to understand that minimum standards are just that: instead of the ultimate goal, they should be seen as a platform upon which to progress. Some sectors in particular have a compliancedriven approach (Brown, 2018); however, compliance in and of itself clearly isn’t enough (Marsh, 2014). Organisations with a culture that has not recognised or understood the true value of OSH are likely, in the words of Bahn (2012), to be paying lip service to OSH. The rebel within Are humans even hardwired for compliance? After all, we become tired, we may wear multiple hats, we face financial squeezes.
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Some have an ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ attitude, while others are of the mindset that if it’s never happened before, it’s unlikely to happen. All this flies in the face of compliance. The human brain likes to take shortcuts, and complacency is part of our DNA. It is very difficult to eradicate complacency fully (Lipinski, 2021), no matter the absolute focus of compliance. Even the GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recognises that ‘behind every sign which reads “do not walk across the grass” no doubt lies a well-trodden path across that very plot’ (HSE, 1995). This includes my five-year-old daughter, who recently turned a ‘no children under 12 in the jacuzzi’ sign around and then proceeded to get in anyway. Indeed, some laws require actions that individuals find disagreeable (Étienne, 2010). Therefore, rules must be relevant and practical to ensure that compliance will be engaged (HSE, 1995) and that those we work with understand the value. I believe we all have a rebel within. To counter this, perhaps what must reignite is the desire to look after one another. In fact, perhaps peer-to-peer compliance is a good way of working towards absolute compliance (Marsh, 2014). That said, just because there’s a moral reason for self-regulation to take the minimum standards and – rather than sticking as close as possible to the defensibility line – go beyond and into a risk-based approach (Competition and Markets Authority, 2014).
The law provides a means of order. Why are people compliance-driven, and what are the factors that force a complianceonlyHackittviewpoint?(2018) suggests that rules are nothing more than targets to achieve rather than purposeful aims and objectives that add value to safer buildings. Indeed, I often hear people say, ‘We’re just scared in case we miss something.’ This is arguably the wrong mindset to have; the goal should be genuine safety improvement. Clearly, there is still a focus within society on doing the minimum to comply, rather than fly. After all, the law exists to serve society and not the other way around. If OSH is being managed within an organisation as it should, none of us should fear the law or the keepers of the law (Wright et al, 2004).
When we hear comments like this, it’s clear we haven’t influenced society to the point that individuals understand the true value of OSH. Can ethics and leadership make a difference? Of course they can, and servant leadership is one of creating learning environments that allow employees to flourish, which in turn should create strong behaviours and reduce incidents (Cooper, 2014).
Ethics and leadership ‘Classic health and safety, making us buy stuff we don’t need.’
The law
Organisations that are value-operated tend to view compliance as a baseline – a foundation to build on. In fact, these organisations often self-impose standards against which to measure performance (Sarkus, 1996). Borrowing from the then Competitions and Market Authority chief executive Alex Chisholm’s address to the Law Society in May 2014, it makes sense that individuals tend to stick to the rules that align to their own ethical outlook on life, and these organisations use
Going beyond the basics
WE MUST LISTEN TO OTHERS AND SHOW THAT WE ARE ALL HUMAN – NOT ROBOTS AND RULE ENFORCERS
RESOURCES Motivate and influence stakeholders by considering the skills and attributes that complement OSH: iosh.com/setting-standards Map out your future using the IOSH competency framework, particularly focusing on areas such as horizon scanning, the integration of OSH with other business risk processes, business context (internal and external), stakeholder management, influencing, visible leadership, innovation and creativity: my-iosh/competency-frameworkiosh.com/ Consider how you can transform OSH, and yourself, using IOSH Blueprint: iosh.com/my-iosh/blueprint A wealth of courses is available from iosh.careercentre.me/members managing OSH doesn’t mean that there’s an easy connection between morality and compliance (Étienne, 2010).
5 Engage employees Engagement of employees typically leads to excellent ownership. Lipinksi (2021) noted the value of cross-training and moving employees around an organisation in order to gain a cross-pollination of ideas and viewpoints.
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Utilise your policy I often see policies not being used as they should: that is, setting the overall tone of how OSH should be managed throughout the organisation and acting as a springboard for a future road map set out in a strategy.
4 Recognise care is core Think about how you can make care, rather than compliance, the key motivator.
Scott Crichton CMIOSH is principal health and safety consultant at WorkNest Go to complianceioshmagazine.com/forthereferences.
Compliance leadership, on the other hand, kills trust, and, ironically, can increase people’s tendency to test what they can get away with (Brown, 2018).
A NEW APPROACH How can we make a difference?
Encourage board engagement This is a must if we are to drive change. The board must have a visible presence to internal stakeholders.
I particularly like the viewpoint that safety culture expert Dr Tim Marsh offers on this area when summarising other scholars’ work: the world needs knights who lead from the front with passion, honour and integrity (Broadbent, 2007). I believe we are the knights who can leverage our position into something more than OSH. We must listen to others’ opinions and show that we are all human – not robots and rule enforcers. We must work on the perception that compliance is a burden – a box-ticking exercise that does nothing but get in the way. As practitioners, we must do more to persuade those we encounter to go above and beyond compliance. We must take the time to tell a story. We must adapt our language and terminology, speak their language and make OSH relevant, relatable and digestible. All of this will help organisations to recognise the real value of OSH. Here are three qualities that will help us get there:
Leadership – Managing risk requires engagement with those you are influencing (Dekker, 2014). Many moons ago, I worked within an NHS ambulance trust and found that the best way to understand the problems and experiences of frontline ambulance workers was to ride along and see those challenges for myself. This established a relationship and trust with employees – I wasn’t just a mysterious figure that existed in name only. It also made my job easier, giving me a better understanding of what happens on the ground and enabling me to tailor my approach to risk management. As leaders, we must never become too far removed from those we seek to influence and coach. Skills development – We must move beyond OSH to equip ourselves with other skills and knowledge that we require today and in the future. We are more than OSH professionals; we require skills in business, communication, coaching, psychology and training, to name just a few.
3 Integrate and value OSH OSH is as important as other organisational functions and deserves equal standing. Value OSH as a tangible improvement by intrinsically linking it to other areas of the organisation and speaking others’ language.
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Changing the perception As OSH professionals, we often see ourselves as agents of change – the hidden superheroes with a progressive outlook of the world and how to lead people. None of us squarely fit into introvert and extrovert categories; we all adopt elements of both depending on the situations we find ourselves (Cain, 2012). We are in the perfect position to spearhead change and lead organisations into the future.
Think strategic and long term Where do you want to be and by when? Why? What do you need, and how will you get there?
8 Learn and change When incidents occur, whether in your organisation or elsewhere, use these as lessons and continually adapt your current operations.
Vulnerability – The current and future generation of OSH professionals must be willing to be vulnerable and show their human side and adapt their approaches to OSH where required. As agents of change within organisations, we are best placed to engage, develop and obtain the trust of those of whom we are working alongside (Lloyd, 2020). As Brown (2018) says, ‘trust and vulnerability grow together, and to betray one is to betray the other’.
6
7 Review risk assessments and training Understand or appraise the significant risks in the organisation and ensure that the necessary means are in place to strengthen those opportunities to become pillars and platforms of progression.
MINS15 W hen Rachel Wilson was developing new qualifications for safety and health professionals, it was clear to her that teaching technical ability alone was not enough. OSH expertise needed to be coupled with wider business skills to enable today’s professionals to apply their knowledge in the workplace – and become business leaders of the future.
IOSH became an awarding body in late 2021, and is recognised in England by Ofqual. We spoke to Rachel Wilson, head of IOSH’s Awarding Organisation, about the qualifications being developed. for futurethe
‘That is what employers have told us from the beginning,’ says Rachel, who is head of the IOSH Awarding Organisation (AO). ‘They place a high level of importance on people with professional qualifications that give them both the technical knowhow but also the soft skills – the people skills and key leadership traits.’
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Consulting with employers has been a key part of the work of Rachel and her team (see Getting to know the team, right) in the months since IOSH was officially recognised as an AO by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations
SKILLS Fit
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of several factors that have accelerated changes in the way people work and heightened the demand placed on OSH professionals – something they need to be able to respond to, says Rachel. As well as giving equal attention to soft and behavioural skills, the assessments are designed to enable professionals to apply their knowledge at work. Learners on the Level 6 qualification will be able
Regulation (Ofqual) in England. Their work has also included surveying learners, and liaising with OSH professionals and educators to uncover what is needed from the OSH qualifications of the future. Qualifications like no others
IMAGESILLUSTRATIONS:IKON
JOINT EFFORT
It was with that in mind the AO team has been developing a new global Level 6 Diploma (Level 6 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is equivalent to Level 10 in Scotland but Level 6 in the rest of Europe), which they feel is unique. Similarly, they believe the new Level 3 certificate being developed (equivalent to Level 6 in Scotland and Level 4 in the rest of Europe) is set apart from others at the same level. The reason for this difference is that the new qualifications give equal balance to core and behavioural skills as well as technical knowledge.
59IOSH MAGAZINE QUALIFICATIONS
tonon-qualifiorganisation,anoperationalisingsheawardingCIPS,havingaexperiencequalitywhoRachelend-pointapprenticeshipassessments.WorkingalongsideisKatieBevan,isAOoperationsandmanager.Katiehasofworkinginregulatedenvironment,spentsixyearsatlatterlyintheroleofmanager–wherewasresponsibleforCIPSasend-pointassessmentandforallcationroutesmembership.
thetoGettingknowteam
‘The profession has told us that OSH professionals of today really need the ability to influence colleagues and to be able to work cross-functionally across an organisation,’ says Rachel. ‘They need to be able to perform that business partner role, to drive an OSH culture, to understand social sustainability and support organisational productivity and success.’
As head of the IOSH AO, Rachel is the person who is ultimately responsible for the qualifi cations. She takes the lead on development of the qualifi cations, and is accountable for developing and managing the AO, ensuring it remains independent and that it meets regulatory requirements. She brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously been head of assessment at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) before heading up the development team at City and Guilds, working on a multitude of vocational qualifi cations including the new T-levels (technical qualifi cations in England developed in collaboration with employers and businesses that can be studied by 16- to 18-year-olds after fi nishing their GCSEs) and
‘We weren’t trying to replicate what already exists,’ says Rachel. ‘There are many established qualifications, and we wanted to find out what was needed by the next generation of learners.’
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The Level 3 certificate is aimed at those starting their OSH career. By aligning both qualifications closely to IOSH’s competency framework, the AO is ensuring they correspond to IOSH’s member grades and are relevant globally.
The Level 6 diploma is designed for people working as OSH professionals who want more responsibility and to manage and lead on OSH policy, procedures and practice. It also has a significant focus on social sustainability and how the OSH profession can support the delivery of some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Positive feedback The response to the diploma from business leaders and senior OSH professionals has been positive.
to undertake work-based assignments.
‘We don’t just want to create theoretical courses,’ says Rachel. ‘The assignment should lead to recommendations for change that can be put into action. This means it will be of value to learners as well as organisations.’
The decision by IOSH to become an AO stemmed from its charitable objectives and, in particular, its WORK 2022 strategy – a vision for a safer and healthier world of work. The main aim is to enhance the standards of the profession, ensuring it is future-fit.
Rachel says: ‘This is the key part. It’s about developing and delivering our qualifications that can meet the academic requirements for entry to IOSH membership. As a leading OSH authority, we can ensure our qualifications are the most relevant, up-to-date and forward-thinking. ‘Ofqual regulation gives learners confidence that the qualifications have been evaluated and quality-assured in a valid, fair and consistent way. But, for members, the key thing is they are intrinsically linked to their membership and professional journey, giving them a seamless way to join as a student member and work through to Chartered status.’ Rachel says that, although Ofqual is an English body, the status covers learners around the world. ‘We were incredibly proud to get Ofqual recognition,’ she says. ‘We have been busy collaborating with small- and medium-sized enterprises and education experts to develop qualifications.’
STARTING UP
Jon Harper-Slade, of CHASNZ, a New Zealand-based charity that supports OSH in construction, says: ‘I’ve led large teams of safety professionals in very large organisations, and it’s always been up to the business to take those professionals and provide them with a solid grounding to help them develop. So having a qualification comparable with degree level with that balance is really good.’
A future-fit profession These will be the first professional qualifications awarded by the AO. After their launch later this year, the team will ensure they are kept up to date while researching other qualifications.
Cathy Day, director of health, safety and risk at the University of Southampton in England, says: ‘What I liked about it was the fact that it looked at the business. So, it’s gone beyond just OSH and that remit, and that’s good.’ Rachel says the team at the AO will continue to focus on the Level 3 certificate and Level 6 diploma, but will remain alert to future opportunities for development (see Every challenge creates an opportunity, above). ‘We’re ambitious,’ she says. ‘We want to be the leader in OSH qualifications. We want to be the number-one choice. This is our vision and mission.’
Kevin Barr, health, safety, environment and quality manager at mechanical and electrical services contractor Group
opportunitycreateschallengeEveryan ‘We’re very new,’ says Rachel, when asked about the main challenges facing the AO. However, she is clear that this apparent challenge is actually an opportunity. ‘We are developing and testing our policies and processes for the first time, but this means we can influence those from the start and use our previous experiences to ensure we get it right first time,’ she says. ‘It’s much harder to change if you go into an established AO, as they have set ways of doing things. It’s actually quite a luxury to come in and set this up.’
Metropolitan, says: ‘It’s talking about leadership, sustainability and influence a lot more. There’s a lot more focus on it; they will see that as being more part of their job, which is great.’
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63IOSH MAGAZINE Enhance DEVELOPING THE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES OF ALL OSH PROFESSIONALS IN SECTIONTHIS How virtual working is presenting a new set of ethical risks, from monitoring data usage to the melding of the personal and professional P64 | Matt Hall on a zero-harm culture at Rolls-Royce Nuclear P68 | Future Leader Badar Kareem on maintaining safety in the aviation industry in Pakistan P70 | Back to basics: workplace transport P72 | Talking shop: fighting fatigue P74 NUCLEARGOING MEMBERP68INTERVIEW SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATION:
WORDS PETER CRUSH MINS20 W hen author Sean O’Meara recentresearchingbeganhisbookRemote workplace culture, he quickly noticed that virtual work wasn’t working for everyone. ‘From people feeling embarrassed seeing the massive houses of their bosses [while they were squashed into a one-bedroom flat], to women feeling like they had to “present” themselves more [their face constantly under scrutiny], employees I spoke to were increasingly uneasy.
‘IOSH’s own values reflect the important shared attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that everyone working at IOSH is expected to demonstrate. Equally, the IOSH Code of Conduct provides a strong ethical framework for all our members.’
The changes Sean says workers were observing loosely fall under the rubric of workplace ethics – a hard-to-pindown concept that is partly code of conduct, but also covers behaviour and integrity and straddles HR, with brand and reputation elements too.
‘IOSH advocates creating safe systems of work in a manner that is reflective of good ethical practice,’ says Simon Butt-Bethlendy, IOSH brand and reputation manager.
RIGHTSREMOTEANDWRONGS 64 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM ENHANCE
The rapid shift to remote working has presented employers with new workplace ethical dilemmas.
New ethical risks
In theory, good workplace ethics should be universal and agnostic about where or how work is done. Good behaviour is, after all, good behaviour. But it is increasingly being argued by psychologists that virtual working presents a new set of ethical risks.
‘I would question the assumption that people work ethically anyway,’ says Simon Cassin CMIOSH, director at health,
‘People were also reporting changing command and control dynamics – of those with the power to call online meetings intimidating others to accept them. They told me they were witnessing passive aggressive behaviours that wouldn’t be so acceptable in-person.’
Across three sections – Ethics and me, Ethics and organisations, and Ethics and public perceptions – IOSH Ethical Practice in OSH explains key concepts, describes influences and issues, analyses responsibilities, discusses relevant frameworks and reporting approaches for ethical practice, and explains how IOSH supports development of best practice related to OSH decisions andLookactions.outfor more information soon on your professional journey programme and how to access this e-learning.
Teething troubles
MEMBER RESOURCES New
SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATIONS: safety and wellbeing company Ouch Training. ‘This is because we know bullying takes place, and we know people give advice they are not competent to give, and abuses of power happen. ‘But what’s clear is that working remotely almost certainly introduces new opportunities for unethical behaviours to occur.
But what does this mean in practice? This autumn, IOSH launches a new e-learning and assessment resource for all members on ethical practice in OSH. It will provide up-to-date, relevant content and learning opportunities exploring the ethical considerations that affect organisations, enabling OSH professionals to demonstrate good ethical decision-making and behaviour.
It will count towards CPD and will be integrated into a new and enhanced IOSH Blueprint platform.
The IOSH Code of Conduct already requires members to ‘respect the rights and privacy of other people and organisations,’ and have ‘due regard for the effect their professional activities may have on others.’ It aligns members to the shared IOSH vision of a world of work that is safe, healthy and sustainable and provides an ethical foundation for members working towards this vision.
fromassessmente-learningPracticeEthicalinOSHandIOSH
‘Taking things to its extreme, everything is an ethical question – but new ethical questions in a remote setting include issues around privacy, confidentiality, fragmentation and foreseeable clashes between personal and professional integrity.’ He adds: ‘These issues are not just created by employers. We all need to consider the implications of how we interact with our colleagues and‘Importantclients. ethical questions involving remote working include: whether people should demand people be on-screen or voice only – and whether this creates barriers – and whether we do things that are socially and professionally acceptable, such as privately texting someone while supposedly on a video call.’ These may not sound like big issues – but data from the latest State of ethics and compliance in the workplace survey suggests that, globally at least, there was an increase of a third in instances of observed misconduct in 2020 compared with 2019 – the year online working took off. These included reports of more favouritism (often referred to as proximity bias), management lying to employees and conflicts of interest. Some 79% of US workers and 61% of global employees saw increased retaliatory behaviour, while in the UK 23% had observed misconduct in the last 12 months, while 26% said they felt under more pressure to compromise standards (Ethics and Compliance Initiative, 2021). This latter finding has clear health and safety implications. ‘There’s a famous thought experiment, called the “trolley problem”, where people are asked to make ethical decisions about a runaway trolley [the US name for a train],’ says Simon Cassin. ‘The train is on course to kill, say, five people, but people can choose whether to pull a lever to divert it – still causing death, but just one person‘Whatdies.itillustrates is responsibility, and whether the runaway train (not the person being asked to intervene’s responsibility) becomes their responsibility when asked to make a choice. In other words, they become responsible for killing one person if they act, when they weren’t responsible for killing five if theyHedidn’t.’explains: ‘Where it’s relevant here is that when we are “distant” from our decisions – which remote working tends to make us – we run the risk of our sense of responsibility and connection to others changing. Physical remoteness increases the remoteness of our actions.’
To those who argue this is too highlevel a view of ethics and that, over time, people will eventually muddle through and iron out teething troubles, Sean is resolute: ‘This stuff matters,’ he says. ‘The practices we start to adopt now will be hard to undo, so it’s vital we start to establish standards and norms about what is ethical behaviour working remotely.’ It’s certainly a matter IOSH agrees with. ‘Just because this is a new, and largely unresearched area, it doesn’t mean we should see ethical thinking get left behind,’ argues Iván Williams
65IOSH MAGAZINE VIRTUAL ETHICS
‘It can also put additional barriers in the way to reduce relationships and the trust between people.’ She adds: ‘Remote working can reduce the ethical safety net that culturally gets generated
Data dilemmas What makes the topic all the more urgent is the dilemma remote working creates around data usage. Virtual meetings can be recorded and stored, creating ethical questions around whether data is used for purposes such as assessing people’s contribution to meetings, knowledge of topics, or how job performance could be ‘Peoplemonitored.should,at the very least, be aware they are being recorded and give their permission,’ says Laura. ‘Organisations also need to ensure data is encrypted.’ So-called ‘ZoomBombing’ – where meetings can be accessed by those not intended to be in the call (risking sensitive information spreading more widely than intended), is also a new major problem.
Joanna Rawbone, founder of Flourishing Introverts: ‘Of all the ethical issues that may present themselves during remote working, proximity bias is one that managers and leaders need to be more aware of. Favouring those who are front of mind and physically in the office disadvantages those who prefer remote working. Many introverts thrive as remote workers as the interruptions of an open-plan office make focusing to do their best work difficult.’
Jenny Ovens, people and operations director, Blue Array: ‘To be an ethical hybrid/remote employer you will have to address and think of ways to overcome human psychological traits that show people trust people more if they meet them in person. People tend to trust people they meet face to face as they build relationships with them quicker. At least building that increased awareness of these issues is a first step to challenging the issues to treat fairly people who are in remote locations.’ Jiménez, IOSH policy development manager. ‘Upskilling of managers is necessary, and it’s an area we are starting to put more thinking into education around. We’re noticing more people starting to communicate in online chatrooms, which is a potential new area of Accordingrisk.’toDr Laura Bradshaw, IOSH research programme lead (technology), there is a need for HR and OSH departments to rewrite and formalise their ethical working practice guidelines. ‘There may need to be a new code of conduct written for how online meetings differ – to take into account how the workplace has recently evolved,’ she says. ‘As a body, we’re keeping this topic on our radar.’
Professional bodies in other sectors have been incorporating ethics support for their members into policies and practice for a number of years. For instance, since 2015 the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has run an annual ethics month full of events and resources for members, specifically covering how its members communicate internally and externally in an ethical and transparent way.
REMOTE BIAS waysNew questionstheworking:ofethical
66 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM ENHANCE
Rachel Roberts, president of the CIPR, says: ‘I regard ethical communications practice as reflecting reality, not a manufactured story. Remote working can create a virtual reality where it’s easy to misrepresent the lived face-to-face experience.
Nearly twothirds of personthanvirtualtosaybusinessesUKtheywantstaydoingratherin-meetings when people work visibly alongside each other, and there is a risk this can divert people from always coming from a place of truth if they feel under pressure to Soperform.’integral is ethics to professional practice it forms part of the CIPR’s annual continuing professional development (CPD) requirement. Practitioners must be aware of its ethical code of conduct (complete with knowledge about what is a correct complaints procedures), and an examination of ethics is a pillar of assessing candidates for Chartered PR status.
‘I have benefited personally and professionally from this increased focus on ethics as a Chartered PR practitioner,’ says Simon Butt-Bethlendy at IOSH. ‘Recently, the CIPR launched initiatives around fact-checking, judging the authority of data, and reflective ethical practice, and it’s mandatory for members to log at least two pieces of CPD from these and other ethics resources. This informs and helps govern the work I do and it’s useful to benchmark against excellent developments in this area at LauraIOSH.’Bradshaw adds: ‘Training and development, virtual training, online learning – these are all areas where people will need an enhanced understanding of their ethical behaviour. It’s all remote work that needs thinking about.’
‘If anything, the pandemic has given us an opportunity to reset and think about this more,’ says Simon Cassin. ‘Typically, people talk about ethics, but don’t really understand it.’
VIRTUAL ETHICS
Whether OSH professionals have considered ethical behaviour on a day-today basis much before, the likelihood is that they’ll be doing it more in the future.
To view the references, go ioshmagazine.com/virtual-ethicsto
REMOTE WORKING CAN REDUCE THE ETHICAL SAFETY NET THAT CULTURALLY GETS GENERATED WHEN PEOPLE WORK VISIBLY ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER, AND THERE IS A RISK THIS CAN DIVERT PEOPLE FROM ALWAYS COMING FROM A PLACE OF TRUTH million The number of global daily Zoom meeting participants in December 2019 10 HR News, 2022; Statista, 2021
Bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) say they’ll also support organisations that want to access the tools and research that it is developing around virtual working andRacheltrust.
Dynamic documents It seems employers are waking up to the issue. ‘I’m working with a client which is in the process of completely overhauling its approach to H&S, and very closely attached to this is looking at their purpose, values and how staff live those values,’ says Simon‘WhatCassin.thisorganisation is confronting is that what one person sees as ethical, the other may not. What I hope we’ll see is that a company’s code of ethics becomes the foundation and principles which inform and guide all work-related decisions and actions. By doing this we can create a method of work that’s supported by a consistent set of principles and values.’
67IOSH MAGAZINE
STATISTICS Virtual reality By March 2020 it 300and200morereachedthanmillion,byApril,million
Suff, CIPD employee relations adviser, says: ‘Ethics is also about establishing respect, and trust. It’s when these things break down that things get hard. Ethics has always been an issue – but what I think is happening is that, with remote work, it’s affecting more people now, and in slightly newer ways. It’s around employers consciously creating the right sort of culture.’
The Managing Safely course gave Matt a fantastic introduction to some of the specific factors involved in OSH, but he believes his experience working in logistics and production has also been invaluable when it comes to real-world safety.
ENHANCE
‘It was actually when I was out in the Philippines 10 years ago that made me want to move into safety,’ he explains. ‘I was living out here with my former partner and we had a driver who came with her job. Our driver’s brother died in a work accident: he was up a set of ladders – unsecured working on a threeor four-storey house – when he fell, landed on the back of his head and died. Seeing the effect this had on his family, as well as his work colleagues and everybody who knew him, the importance of health and safety really hit home for me. ‘Safety was non-existent on the building site he was working on, and his death was completely avoidable. I realised that it was time to make a change and, rather than focusing on income, I should do something I felt was worthwhile.’
A s somebody who has visited 118 countries, it’s fair to say that Matt Hall is a globetrotter. So in our video call, it’s no great surprise to see Matt against a background of palm trees and exotic hustle and bustle. But this backdrop – Matt spoke to us from the streets of Davao in the Philippines – couldn’t have been more apt.
ZEROOBJECTIVE:HARM
Walking the walk Previously, Derbyshire-based Matt had worked at luxury car maker and aeroengine manufacture Rolls-Royce as a leader in production and logistics. On his return from the Philippines, he looked for a new route in OSH, starting with an IOSH Managing Safely course. ‘That was my first health and safety course, as well as a NEBOSH general certificate. Then I became a member of IOSH so I could start moving up the membership levels. I’m a Graduate Member, but I’m keen to move towards Chartered status. I should be ready to sit my Chartered interview within the next year.’
Zero harm Matt is now an HSE [health, safety and environmental] adviser for Rolls-Royce Nuclear, which develops small modular reactors – overseeing manufacturing areas to ensure day-to-day safety, carrying out compliance checks and site-wide audits, coaching a team of HSE champions and delivering safety culture improvement sessions. Although
Rolls-Royce Nuclear health and safety adviser Matt Hall GradIOSH explains how a workplace fatality abroad led him to his calling.
68 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
INTERVIEW MATT LAMY
‘As a production leader, you see what corners are cut, safety-wise. I know how to avoid those problems and how to speak to people properly,’ he says.
‘I think that real-life experience is a vital addition to the classroom training and textbook learning that safety officers get. A couple of months on the ground beats a year in the classroom. I think every safety practitioner should have some level of on-the-job training. Once they have their basic understanding, they should be sent onto the shop floor with a more experienced practitioner.’
‘We get a lot of support from management. They integrate with us, they help deliver sessions, and we have an open culture on-site. If staff have a health and safety issue, they can come to me or can easily go to one of the ‘OSH-wise,directors.each manufacturing area undergoes risk assessments for each task. Those risk assessments feed into a PIA – a probability-impact assessment – and we put the top 10 risks for each area into the business risk plan. Those risks are then monitored constantly. We look at how we can improve them. ‘It’s impossible to take all the risk away but we do all we can to make it as low as humanly possible.’
The best lesson I have learned was on my IOSH Managing Safely training. One of the trainers said: “If you think health and safety is expensive, you want to try having an accident.” I’ve used that as a guiding thought ever since.’ ‘Study hard. It’s not an easy job to fall into unless you get lucky or are self-motivated to get some training. Ask your employer to help. If you’re struggling to make the breakthrough, choose an entry-level role – HSE admin, for example. There are always lower roles available.
Rolls-Royce’s areas of business vary from jet engines and luxury cars to small modular nuclear reactors, one OSH constant is found across the business: the philosophy of zero harm. ‘Zero-harm culture is the goal for all sites to have zero accidents, zero injuries. But it is important to understand that zero harm doesn’t mean we discourage reporting – we encourage reporting a lot, which might seem like a conflict. But since we rolled out the zero-harm initiative over the past four years, reporting has gone up, but accidents rates and injuries have gone down drastically. ‘There is certainly a lot of scope at Rolls-Royce for different working requirements, but the zero-harm philosophy and the training sessions that accompany it are the same across allSecuritysites.’ restrictions limit what he can say about his work, but it is fair to say the safety culture at Rolls-Royce is positive.
‘I took a step down from being a consultant in production and logistics to an advisory role in OSH, but once I’m Chartered, I’d like to get back into the leadership side. I’ve never worked abroad so I’d like to do that, perhaps in a developing nation.
TEXTBOOKTRAININGTOVITALEXPERIENCEREAL-LIFEISAADDITIONCLASSROOMANDLEARNING
Matt’s advice for new OSH practitioners
‘I think people look at health and safety as being boring. But it is not just a man with a clipboard: it is about educating, coaching, psychology – making sure you speak to people properly. If you order them around, they’re not going to listen.’
69IOSH MAGAZINE MEMBER INTERVIEW MATT HALL
TWO LIFE LESSONS
SHUTTERSTOCKILLUSTRATION:
Keep moving Matt’s career goals are to achieve IOSH Chartered status and put his travelling experience to good use by working overseas.
I THINK
‘I’m in no rush to leave Rolls-Royce – there are many opportunities around the world to work with them – but I’m open to new opportunities. There is always going to be work for us as health and safety practitioners, wherever we are.
What are the specific challenges that OSH faces in large multinational companies?
Q&A 70 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM ENHANCE
BADAR KAREEM CMIOSH
One recent moment that made me proud was being awarded first position as occupational health, safety and wellbeing (OSHW) ambassador by the president of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, at the OSHW conference and award ceremony held by the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan working with the International Labour Organization. What is it about being an OSH professional in multinational companies that gives you the most satisfaction?
I’ve worked with a number of large companies; sometimes, when OSH professionals and other staff are used to processes and systems, this makes them less innovative in some areas. Innovation, development and change are the pillars on which all large multinationals should focus more. These aspects are directly connected with the OSH culture and leadership commitment of an organisation. You mention that one of your ambitions is to help shape the future of OSH. How would you like to see the profession grow?
What have been your greatest challenges and achievements?
I now head the HSE and quality assurance function (HSEQ) for Gerry’s dnata, an Emirates Group business in Pakistan. My experience in HSEQ cuts across the oil, gas, pharmaceutical and aviation industries.
During my training and skill-development period, I took many health, safety and environment (HSE) training courses and certifications, which developed my interest in safety management systems. Later, I moved to a multinational company as a full-time OSH professional – an HSE officer – and then held various roles such as lead HSE and HSE manager.
After graduation, I had the opportunity to work in the chemical process industry.
I always explore ways to help shape the future of the OSH profession. Being associated with IOSH as a member of both the Future Leaders Steering Group and the Aviation and Aerospace Group makes me proud, as this enables me to start my journey towards this ambition. In addition, I am in the early stages of the
INTERVIEW SALLY HALES
How and why did you get into the health and safety profession?
As an OSH professional, my biggest responsibility is to make my leadership team and peer managers realise the importance – and philosophy – of OSH. This is a challenge that I have faced many times. I am blessed with many achievements.
The elevation of OSH culture in a company is key. It can be achieved by working on the commitment of leadership and the behaviour of workers. I have been lucky enough to have made progress on both elements. The head of health, safety, environment and quality assurance at Gerry’s dnata, Pakistan’s largest ground services provider for the aviation industry, is a keen learner who focuses on developing himself and others.
Member. Later, I worked to gain Chartered status. One of the great things about IOSH is that you never stop learning, and always need to work on continuing professional development. This keeps upgrading your skills and helps you to progress.
At my current employer, I led a project called IATA [International Air Transport Association] Safety Audit of Ground Operations (ISAGO). I called this my ISAGO certification journey, which was full of teamwork, commitment, dedication and hard work. We started our journey with limited resources and structure. The team worked tirelessly, and we finished our first airport audit in 2019, which made us the first and only ground-handling company to achieve ISAGO certification in Pakistan’s aviation history.
A career is a journey, not a destination. I continually search for ways to keep learning, growing and improving.
FAST FACTS Badar…Being
• I am a cricket player and whileintercollegiateplayedmatchesIwasstudying.
• I am a foodie.
• I like puzzle-solving games such as the Rubik’s cube.
A diversified self-development plan is a helpful tool. It should cover all competence areas such as technical, core and behavioural competencies. Being a Chartered Member of IOSH has always kept me motivated and self-disciplined enough to track my development plans.
What lies ahead for Future Leaders in OSH? Many opportunities lie ahead, but to make OSH an attractive first-choice career, there are many areas for potential improvement where governance, businesses and OSH professionals need to work collectively.
My HSE team tirelessly worked with me on different programmes that we developed on incident prevention and management, risk management and safety assurance to help us create a safety culture and elevate incident reporting and management awareness across the company.
development of projects regarding legal, procedural and awareness strengths. Where does your drive for learning come from? How does it help you in your current role? Early on, I established that I needed to remain open to learning and development, and that this would help me to grow my career. All the learning comes from the certifications and training, including my Level 6 OSH diploma. All this learning enables me to fulfil my role efficiently, and make me recognised as a distinct professional among others. What value do you get from IOSH membership and how important is it to progress? After completing my Level 6 OSH qualification, I joined IOSH as a Graduate
• I enjoy visiting new places and meeting new people.
LIBRARYMEDIADNATAPHOTOGRAPHY:
OSH culture and leadership commitment are the key elements that require the most work – and the rest of the OSH elements will be addressed accordingly. Personal development is a key to success, especially for those who are new to OSH careers.
It’s important to develop a plan across competence areas.
71IOSH MAGAZINE FUTURE LEADER BADAR KAREEM
This was a proud moment for all of us, and for me as project lead. Later, we went to two additional airports and completed the same audit. The project developed my leadership skills as well. How did you manage to achieve 10 million ‘safe man-hours’ without lost-time injury and with zero aircraft damage? ‘Safe man-hours’ is one of the performance indicators I introduced in my company. Last year, we achieved the total of more than 10 million safe man-hours without lost-time injury. This required the involvement of all company employees, who worked to achieve this milestone.
What are your tips for continuing self-development?
What is your best OSH story about working with some of the world’s largest – and perhaps some of the most dangerous – companies?
Depending on where the risk falls, this can be broken down into five actions: 1. No action – but ensure necessary controls are maintained and reviewed
ENHANCE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM
sitesoftoexample,happeningofIncidentsphysiologicalPsychologicalMusculoskeletalFallsEntrapmentfromheightconditionsandeffectsFireandexplosions.canoccuratanumberlocationsandstillbeclassedas‘attheworkplace’.Fortheycanapplynotonlyestablished,permanentplacesworkbutalsototemporaryworkandassociatedoperations.
Workplace transport incidents are a leading cause of occupational injuries and fatalities. The risks can be more varied than you may imagine: Collisions and crushing
Human and administrative factors – associated with people and workplacemanagementadministrativeinvolvedintransportoperations.
IOSH recommends taking five steps in assessing a risk hazard: Step 1: Identify the hazards Step 2: Who can be harmed and how? Step 3: Assess the risks Step 4: Decide on what controls are needed. Reassess the risks Step 5: Record significant findings, communicate them and review assessment as necessary.
SAFETYONTHEMOVE
Workplace transport incidents are the focus in our series exploring core OSH topics and your role in ensuring risks are well managed.
You can use IOSH’s risk rating matrix (see Figure 1) to estimate the impact of a risk based on the likelihood of it occurring and its increasing consequence (that is, risk = likelihood × consequence).
72
Workplace transport risks break down into three categories: Transport site and operational factors – where operations and tasks take place, and in which workers, vehicles, pedestrians and equipment may be present Vehicle factors – associated with vehicles and their use in workplace transport operations
2 theRisk-assessingdangers
1 Understand the danger
2. Monitor – and look to improve at next review
Add additional cameras to a vehicle to improve all-round visibility
SpeedReversePedestrianGrittingExternalNarrowedlimitsrouteslightingplanswalkwaysparkinginbaysrestrictorsonvehiclesKeycontrol.
3 Site and operational risk factors
There are many hazards to consider when exploring on-site and operational risk factors at a workplace. These include traffic routes; site speed; site lighting; vehicle washdowns; refuelling points; loading bay ‘driveaway’ incidents; deliveries (storage); waste; parking; site blind spots and corners; ground openings; manual handling loads; snow and ice; heavy rain and flooding; and electrical storms.
BACK TO BASICS 3. Action – improve within the specified timescale
5. Stop – end activity now and take immediate action. You can identify hazards by conducting workplace inspections or by using the ‘what if’ or ‘task analysis’ methods. Risk assessments can either be based on an educated opinion (qualitative method) or by using measurement and calculations (quantitative method). Any existing control measures should be taken into account as part of your riskRiskanalysis.assessments are recorded using templates, which typically ask questions such as: ‘What is the hazard?’ and ‘Who might be harmed and how?’ They also focus on issues such as existing risk control measures, the risk rating, additional controls that could be implemented, and the new risk rating (residual risk).
MEMBERS.IOSHFORIOSHFROMISARTICLETHISINCONTENTTHE consequencesIncreasing Increasing likelihood 20-251015202520161281512961086422 33 44 55 55443322111 15-168-123-61-2 Stop Figure 1: Risk rating matrix Urgent actions NoMonitorActionaction IOSH MAGAZINE 73
Common ways to control likely hazards include introducing: One-way systems Crossing and signalling systems Speed
IOSH suggests several ways to tackle these to prevent accidents or fatalities.
For example: Introduce planned tipping operations Avoid turning tipping vehicles with a raised body in high winds or near overhead obstructions Use coverings and anchor points to secure loads Make it a rule not to use electronic devices while driving
4. Urgent action – take immediate action and stop activity if necessary
Apply rules as simple as ‘apply the parking brake when stationary’.
5 Human riskadministrativeandfactors
4 Vehicle risk factors
People can pose a number of risks at a workplace. These include the competency of the person driving a vehicle; the use of illicit drugs, alcohol and medication; psychosocial considerations, such as fatigue or aggressive behaviours; security risks; and the monitoring of sites, vehicles and Theseequipment.risksorhazards can be successfully mitigatedEnsuringby:drivers hold the correct type of driving licence, are properly trained and inducted, and undergo random drug Introducingtesting locking procedures, ensuring doors, windows and unauthorised access points are locked, both on-site and in vehicles Maintaining checklists, logs and inspections to monitor sites, vehicles and equipment.
Vehicles can also create transport risks or hazards on a workplace site. These include overturning vehicles; tipping operations; securing loads; distractions caused by electronic devices; vehicles reversing; vehicle run-away or roll-away; and vehicle cleanliness.
A recent study of office workers showed sit/stand regimes reduced fatigue. What else can be done? Four industry leaders share their thoughts. ANDY HOOKE CMIOSH
CMIOSHMORRISONFRASER Director, M2 Safety Consultants Regarding fatigue, allowing homeworking with flexible hours is crucial. People should work to live, not the other way round. Encouraging, promoting and rewarding healthy lifestyle choices are small measures you can take to improve health and wellbeing. Offering an extra day’s holiday for birthdays, and being flexible with when holidays can be taken, are others.
Health and safety consultant, WorkNest Managing the risks to workers’ mental health is of paramount importance. This is something I regularly discuss with those I support. Proper training and understanding are key to breaking down stigma. Sit/stand desks have become the norm in many settings now, and help provide comfort for display screen equipment users, giving them a choice. Standing helps to improve the ergonomics of a workstation, and is likely to improve mental wellbeing, aid circulation and reduce fatigue. However, it also is important to recognise importancetheof changing position regularly, such as switching to sitting down every now and then.
CMIOSH Head of health and safety, London Projects The construction industry is wrought with fatigue and depression – so much so, it is undoubtedly a national crisis. To solve this, we can implement shorter working hours via staff rotation or additional site support – it’s all about bespoke solutions that are smart and pragmatic. External support programmes can be also called upon for individual cases. How the industry uses short-term labour is complex, but the key is empathy: knowing and appreciating everyone is human. By lessening the load, we can collectively achieve a healthier working environment.
MENTAL HEALTH
Health, safety and wellbeing manager, Cumbria County Council
The council has a variety of preventive measures to manage feelings of depression and fatigue. These include manager supervision, individual risk assessments and access to wellbeing champions. We also have inhouse occupational health facilities and mental health first aiders. The council offers flexible working and has introduced new ways of working, examining the business requirements for office work. We are also collaborating with the University of Hull to measure baseline stress across the council, with planned interventions for staff wellbeing to be launched later next year.
BRETT S EDKINS
To reduce depression, it’s important to have an open and honest culture where mental health is spoken about on a regular basis and isn’t a taboo subject. Building and supporting a strong team – where everyone is open, honest, transparent and helps each other out when in need – is key.
FIGHTINGFATIGUE
CMIOSH
HAVE YOUR SAY… ioshmagazine.com/talking-shop/fatigueHow can businesses help fight fatigue in the workplace? Let us know. 74 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM TALKING SHOP ALICE GUNDAVDA
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